The Echinodermaga
by Periphery
Summary: A lot of seemingly disconnected, unimportant things are happenning around Hogwarts in 1973, but they all add up to a lot more than our Marauders bargained for. Rating to be safe.
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. J. K. Rowling does. _

_A/N: Special thanks to Crisco (from Pinecone) for the loan of ideas and Lone Astronomer for the beta. Sometimes, I don't know how you guys put up with me._

"Psst!" James hissed in Remus's ear. "Sirius fancies Kathryn. Pass it on."

"Everybody knows that."

"Kathryn doesn't. Pass it on."

Remus grinned wickedly and passed it on.

"I do not!" Sirius protested.

"Do too. Just about everybody knows that."

"Do not!"

"Do too!" James began listing the reasons that everyone in the year (except Kathryn Michels and her best friends, Lily Evans and Adriana Schwartz) knew that Sirius was madly in love with her. The list turned out to be almost as tedious as the lecture Professor Binns (who, of course, never noticed a thing) was giving.

Remus listened to the message spread throughout the classroom. When it finally reached Adriana, she nearly fell off her chair in a fit of giggles. "What?" Lily and Kathryn asked together, but their friend was laughing too hard to reply.

"I hate getting left out of a joke," Kathryn complained.

"Calm down, or you'll start hyperventilating," Lily warned. She didn't sound overly concerned; Adriana's "daily laughing fits" were famous throughout the school.

The girl on the other side of Lily whispered in her ear. Lily giggled and said to Kathryn in a loud whisper that carried through the room, "Sirius fancies you."

Kathryn's reply also carried through the room. "Oh, he does, does he?" she said indifferently.

If it was possible, Adriana laughed harder. Sirius, on the other hand, looked slightly crestfallen.

"Reason fourteen," Peter interrupted James, "the look on your face right now."

Remus snuck another look at the girls, noting that Adriana had not stopped laughing. He saw Kathryn shoot Sirius a furtive glance bafore making another futile attempt to calm Adriana down. "You know," he said thoughtfully, "she might fancy you too. In fact . . . I think she does."

Sirius brightened. "Really? You think?" James and Peter snickered. "Oh, shut up."

"Yeah," Remus said, "she just doesn't show it. You know, Siri, you do like to let the world know how you feel. Unless -- " he added, seeing Sirius open his mouth furiously, "you're busy denying it."

"Thinking of becoming a what-cha-ma-call-it -- one of those Muggle nutters -- a psychiatrist?" James asked.

"Yep," Remus said cheerfully.

"No, he should have a column in the Daily Prophet," Sirius suggested, obviously glad to get the subject off himself. "People can write in to him with their problems."

"Like . . . you?"

"No, I don't have problems."

"He has issues."

"No, he's in denial. Right, Siri?"

"Absolutely!" Sirius laughed.

For the rest of the interminable class, Sirius and Kathryn kept sneaking glances at each other from their respective ends of the room. Professor Binns continued with his lecture and never noticed the little drama unfolding in front of him.

"Honestly," Lily could be heard to say as they finally left the room, "you could put a neon _sign_ over his head and he wouldn't notice."

Simultaneously, James's and Sirius's eyes lit up. Remus grinned.

"What's neon?" Peter wanted to know.

"Probably some Muggle thing. Anyways, who cares?" James said airily. "A sign . . . maybe we could make it blink on and off . . . ?"

"There's that charm Flitwick mentioned last week," Remus said thoughtfully. "_Oskeelo_, or something . . ."

"Doesn't that have to be set up beforehand?"

"Excellent," Sirius said gleefully. "A night prank."

"Oh, no," Peter said fearfully.

"Relax, we have my dad's -- " James started to say, but Remus shushed him.

"You want people to know? That fifth year over there's a prefect!" he warned.

"I wonder if one of us will be prefect," Peter said.

"The idea!" James looked horrified.

"Irrelevant comment, Peter," Remus announced.

"Oh, that's ages away," Sirius said.

"Only two years!" James said, still bothered by the notion.

"Yeah, that's ages!"

"In the big scheme of things . . . "

"We're not talking about the big scheme of things!"

"It's still not that long."

"Yes, it is!"

"No, it's not!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"How can we get so far off the subject?" Remus demanded. "Was there ever a point to this conversation?"

"Of course," said Sirius, surprised. "A night prank. Tonight. And yes."

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Will you two please cut it out? This argument has no point!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"That is the point, Remus. They're arguing about nothing as usual."

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Ye -- "

"SHUT UP!"

Late that night, firelight flickered over the countless armchairs and tables of the Gryffindor common room. The room appeared to be deserted.

Of course, appearances can be deceiving.

"Ouch!" Peter hissed as James accidentally stepped on his toes. "Look, why are we all under this thing, I'll stay here."

"No," Sirius said firmly, "you're com -- "

"Wait," said Remus suddenly. "Guys -- let's . . . let's not do this."

"What?" said Sirius and James together, throwing off the Invisibility Cloak.

"I said, let's not do this. I have a bad feeling. Something horrible's going to happen, I just know it."

There was silence for a moment. "Remus, you stink at Divination," Sirius reminded him.

"I don't even take Divination."

"Exactly!"

"But if he doesn't take it, he could be very good at it and not know it," James pointed out logically. "And people who stink at Divination usually don't have visions, or premonitions, or whatever-you-want-to-call-

em's."

"Not a vision," Remus said. "If it was a vision I'd know what's going to happen."

"A premonition then."

"The future can be changed," Sirius said firmly. "Besides, what's the worst that could happen?"

"Detention," Peter pointed out. "What if we got caught by Hatabie? That could be pretty horrible."

The boys shuddered. Professor Hatabie was the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, and no-one liked him at all. He could be downright cruel to some of the students.

"But it's worth it if we set up the prank," James said finally.

"And spectacularly humiliate Binns," Sirius added.

"Due to our misfortune in having History of Magic two days in a row," James concluded.

They both looked at Remus, knowing that if he insisted on their forgoing the prank completely, they would.

For his part, Remus was uncertain. He did have a bad feeling, but their arguments were (for once) logical . . . and it would be fun . . . and like Sirius said, what was the worst that could happen? Remus still didn't like it, but Sirius was putting on his puppy-dog face, and he could never say no to that without feeling completely cruel . . . against his better judgement, Remus nodded.

"You sure it's okay?" James asked cautiously.

Remus wasn't at all sure, but he nodded again. Really, when they put it the way they did, he couldn't let them down.

"All right then," Sirius said, holding up the cloak.

"I still don't think we should all squeeze under that thing," Peter said.

"Come on, Pete," James said. "We have to stick together."

"All for one and one for all," Sirius added. Everybody stared at him. "What?"

"You read The Three Musketeers?" Remus couldn't help asking.

Sirius shrugged. "It annoys my mum and dad."

"Um . . . why would reading some book I never heard of annoy your parents?" James asked.

"The Three Musketeers. It's a Muggle book."

" . . . Ah."

"Let's make that our motto," Peter suggested, breaking the sudden tension. "Three Musketeers, four Marauders . . . it's cool."

"All for one and one for all?" James asked.

"What else would I be talking about?"

"Nothing, 'cept that would mean you'd have to get under the cloak." James grinned wickedly.

Peter opened his mouth to protest, realized he had been defeated, and closed it again.

"Let's go." Sirius picked up the cloak, threw it over the four of them, and they climbed out the portrait hole.

They met absolutely nobody on the way to the History of Magic classroom, which Remus found slightly unnerving and the others seemed not to notice at all. The prank was successfully set up and the way back to Gryffindor Tower was also uneventful, unless you counted a close shave with Filch's cat -- which the boys certainly didn't. After all, they got away, and Peter only knocked over one suit of armor in the process.

"See?" Sirius crowed triumphantly as they threw off the cloak in the saftey of the common room. "Nothing happened!"

"Yet," Remus muttered.

"This is bothering me," Adriana said quietly as she pushed Lily's scroll forward an inch or so. Lily and Kathryn looked at each other and burst out laughing, while Adriana tried not to grin but failed.

It was Tuesday morning and the girls had gotten to History of Magic rather early for no particular reason, only that Kathryn had woken up early and knocked over a stack of books, waking up the others and giving Gryffindor's third year girls an early start to the day.

"You're wierd," Lily said to Adriana once she had recovered her composure.

"Thank you," Adriana said cheerfully.

"Insane," Kathryn added. "Always and forever."

Adriana shook her head. "Only some of the time," she reminded them.

"Of course," Lily said. "Pay no attention to this jerk." She gave Kathryn a shove. "If you were insane all the time, you'd be like them."

The girls shuddered. "Them" was their unofficial code word for the four Gryffindor boys.

"I wonder if they're ever serious," Adriana began, following a well-worn path of conversation.

"No, never!" Lily and Kathryn chorused.

They giggled.

"These seats taken?" said a voice from above them. Kathryn looked up to see James Potter looking at her expectantly and burst into a fresh wave of giggles.

James rolled his eyes. "I said, are these seats taken?" he repeated, unusually patient.

"Well, no," Kathryn said uncertainly. Why would they want to sit at the front of the room, much less near the girls? Lily and Adriana looked just as confused. Kathryn raised her eyebrows at them and turned back to the boys, gazing thoughtfully at Sirius as he sat down.

She wasn't sure what her feelings for him were. Actually, she hadn't thought about it before she had heard that he fancied her.

He was cute, she supposed -- at least, Margaret and Shannon, the other third year Gryffindor girls, thought he was. Kathryn made a face, listening to them giggle behind her.

Not that there was anything wrong with giggling -- Merlin knew Kathryn and her friends did it enough. No, it was just that Margaret and Shannon were undoubtably giggling about them.

Not that there was anything wrong with that either; much as she hated the boys, Kathryn had to admit they could be rather amusing. The boys and the girls had actually been friends as firsties, and had spent most of the year laughing at each other. She just didn't see how the girls' whispers of "He's so cute!" made them giggle. "Cute" to Kathryn and her friends meant little kids and baby animals, not incredibly annoying thirteen-year-olds. How was Sirius's hair "cute", anyway?

Kathryn wondered idly how she had gotten so far off her original subject. Sirius noticed her staring at him and waved -- from two meters away. She shuddered and turned away to find Adriana shaking her head with a small smile on her face.

"What?"

"You know, Kattie, if you don't stop staring at him so much people might think you like him too."

"Don't call me that," Kathryn huffed, shoving her.

"Why are you staring at him anyway?"

"Because it's very oddly intriguing when a guy likes you!"

"So . . . you don't like him?"

"What? No, are you kidding, I hate him!"

"'Hate' is a very strong word."

"Arrgh!"

Hard as it was, the two girls kept their conversation to whispers as the boys argued loudly, Margaret and Shannon giggled, Lily checked over her Potions essay (for the fifteenth time), and the Ravenclaws, with whom the Gryffindors shared all HIstory lessons, talked and compared notes.

Once Professor Binns started the lesson, everybody tried valiantly to take notes, but most returned to their former activities within ten minutes, albeit a bit more quietly. Several Ravenclaws, as well as Lily, managed to pay attention until five minutes before the end of the lesson. It was then that, next to Kathryn, James Potter pulled out his wand.

She glanced at him, tearing her attention away from her game of tic-tac-toe. Her opponent, Adriana, also looked over, plainly wondering why he would need his wand in the middle of a History lesson.

Their unspoken questions were soon answered. James grinned and winked at them before pointing his wand somewhere over Professor Binns's head and whispering an incantation that they couldn't catch.

Instantly, the words DEAD BORING appeared over the ghost's head, complete with arrows pointing right to him.

The class erupted in silent laughter, not daring to make too much noise. Adriana really did fall off her chair this time.

Unfortunately, Professor Hatabie chose that moment to step through the door, carrying a stack of papers. His cold grey eyes took in the words over the teachers head, as well as the laughing class and James slipping his wand back into his pocket. "Detention, Mr. Potter," he said quietly. James, along with the whole class, looked up in surprise. "You will meet me in the entrance hall tomorrow night at five," the professor continued.

"But sir," James said, regaining his composure, "There's an emergency Chaser practice tomorrow night. Could I do it on Thurs -- "

"Too late," Hatabie snapped.

"Tonight, then?"

"No!" the professor growled. "No night but tomorrow will do. Five o'clock. Understood?"

"Yes," James mumbled.

Professor Hatabie dropped his papers on an empty desk by the door and left the room.

Everybody except James started laughing again.

"Man, he's -- I don't know -- kind of abrupt, isn't he?" Lily giggled. It was only then that Professor Binns looked up and asked, "Is something wrong?"

Everybody fell silent, trying hard to keep straight faces.

Professor Binns shrugged and returned to his lecture.


	2. Chapter 2

_Disclaimer: JKR is the owner, not me. _

_A/N: Thanks so much to Lone Astronomer for the fabulous beta-read. _

"Is it just me, or is it really quiet in here?" Kathryn remarked the next night.

"You're right . . . " Frowning, Lily looked around the crowded common room. "All right, who's not here?"

"Of course!" Kathryn slapped herself in the forehead. "It's James, he's got detention."

"It can't be that, he's always on detention."

"He hasn't been getting as many because Mark threatened to kick him off the team if he kept missing practice. And then he had to go and get one for tonight, didn't he?"

"That's right, isn't there practice tonight?"

"Chaser practice is no good with only two Chasers. And I was really looking forward to learning some new plays . . . detention!"

"Yes, detention," said Adriana placatingly without looking up. "With Hatabie in the forest."

"What?" the other girls said together.

"It's dark!" Kathryn exclaimed, just as Lily asked, "How do you know?"

"I listen," Adriana replied, still squinting at her Transfiguration essay.

"But the forest?" Kathryn persisted. "At night? I mean, I could see it with Hagrid, but Hatabie?"

"And when did you hear this?" Lily added.

"The forest at night with Hatabie. They were talking about it when we left dinner -- I think it was, like, supposed to be somewhere else or something," Adriana said absentmindedly. "Ugh!" she exclaimed suddenly, slamming her Transfiguration book shut and making everyone else within twenty feet jump. "I just don't get this, do you?"

"What?" said Lily, amazed, as usual, that her friend could change the subject so quickly. "Oh, that -- no, I've been trying for ages to figure it out; I'm getting nowhere."

They both looked at Kathryn. "I haven't started yet," she protested.

"So, let's go ask for help." Adriana grabbed her things and bounced up and over to the portrait hole.

"And we should be happy about this because . . . ?" Kathryn asked as she and Lily followed her out.

Adriana shrugged and began skipping down the corridor.

"Unbelievable," Lily muttered. Kathryn looked at her, shrugged, and skipped after Adriana.

Lily shook her head and followed her friends. Soon, she found herself skipping.

Ten minutes later, Adriana halted abruptly. "Okay, where are we?"

"There's the trophy room."

"Yeah, but we were heading for the staff room, right?"

"Right . . ."

"So that's by Charms. How did we get here?"

"By skipping," Kathryn said dryly.

"Oh, you!" Adriana dropped her armload and shoved Kathryn, who promptly elbowed her in the ribs. As Adriana retaliated, Lily laughed and, on impulse, began acting as commentator.

"And Schwartz stomps on Michels' foot, ooh, that's gotta hurt, but Michels isn't backing down, she kicks Schwartz in the shin and Schwartz staggers back, she quickly recovers and moves to -- wait, stop. NOW!"

Not even the seventh years tangled with Lily when she used that tone of voice. Kathryn and Adriana froze in their tracks and heard a different voice filling the corridors.

" -- to the staff room. Once again, all students to their common rooms, all teachers to the staffroom. Immediately."

There was a click, then dead silence. The girls stared at each other then, as one, began walking back the way they had come, Adriana scooping up her book and parchment as they went.

"I didn't know Hogwarts had a P. A." Lily said.

"What's that?" Kathryn asked quizzically. Without waiting for an answer she went on, "I think that must have been the M. S. S. -- Magical Speaker System. My cousin told me about it -- he just graduated, said it was never used all the time he was here. It's supposedly only used in times of great emergency. C'mon, let's hurry."

They ran all the way back to the common room.

"And we thought it was quiet before," Kathryn muttered as they stepped through the portrait hole. The room was practically silent, even though all of Gryffindor were there.

The girls went to stand next to Kathryn's younger brother David, as all the seats were now taken. "I think you must be the last," he informed them in an undertone. "Zillions of people have been coming in . . . you must have been really far away."

Kathryn nodded and put a finger to her lips. The room fell silent again. Gryffindor Tower held its breath and waited until the M. S. S. crackled back to life.

"Attention students." This time Lily recognized the voice as Professor McGonagall's. "As many of you may know, Martin's Magical Circus is currently in the Hogsmeade area." There were murmurs of agreement; several second years had spent the past few days bemoaning the fact that they were not allowed to go see the circus. This had resulted in all of Gryffindor knowing many details of the event, whether they cared or not. The professor went on, "One of the circus's most dangerous exhibits, the echinodermaga, has recently escaped from its cage." There was a collective gasp. "There is no telling where this creature may go. We ask all students to remain in their dormitories or House common rooms until further notice.

"Professor Kettleburn" -- McGonagall's voice turned faintly amused -- "would like to take this opportunity to give a mass lecture on the echinodermaga. All Care of Magical Creatures students will please give him your full attention, as there may well be a test."

Everybody groaned, and several students pulled out rolls of parchment to take notes. There was a crackle as Professor Kettleburn came on and began to lecture enthusiastically. The thing about Kettleburn, Lily reflected, was that he made everything so interesting that you took more notes than you really needed for the test. Someone who paid as strict attention as Lily did was liable to take notes like:

ECHINODERMAGA

-- native 2 N. American forests

-- 5-part radial symmetry, like echinodermata

-- looks like giant sea star

-- each arm ends in sharp point

-- mouth under body

-- can "stand" on 1 or 2 arms

-- MOM class.: XXXXX

--VERY DANGEROUS!

-- pot. deadly venom thru points

CAUSES: immediate unconsciousness, maybe death

-- desperation weapon: Ness Assault

popular MMC

leaps, violent wind, lands w/ mouth over victim & digests immediately (gross)

unblockable, only dodgeable

-- Avoid this creature!

-- IF CORNERED

--is allergic 2 salt H2O

-- shoot it -- 50 mL salt/ L H2O -- inc. Salagua

-- get away!

-- IF SOMEONE IS POISONED

-- get medical help ASAP

"Why is he telling us all this?" Kathryn muttered darkly. "It's not as though we're going to meet up with one . . . kind of morbid if you ask me."

"Didn't you hear what Professor McGonagall said?" Adriana retorted. "'There is no telling where this creature may go.' I bet it could break down the doors -- it could be in the castle right now!"

"That's impossible!" Lily protested.

"Nothing is impossible," Adriana said. "Anyway, I get the feeling we've forgotten something . . . something really important . . . don't you?"

Across the room, Remus Lupin had been steadily growing white. "James," he said sharply, as soon as the lecture was over.

Sirius looked at him a little uncertainly. "James isn't here, Moony," he said. "He's on detention -- in the dungeons, remember? I'm sure -- "

"No, not in the dungeons!" Remus snapped, making both Sirius and Peter jump. "Didn't you hear him talking to Hatabie after dinner? They're in the forest!"

The others' eyes grew wide.

"Are -- are you sure?" Sirius asked after a moment. "I mean, if we didn't hear them, how did you?"

Remus merely glared, and Sirius seemed to shrink a little. They all knew that Remus's lycanthropy gave him enhanced hearing, but they tended to forget.

"Oh. Right."

"We can't do anything until we know for sure," Peter said firmly. "We have to ask someone."

"How?"

"We'll go find a teacher. If the thing's in the castle, we're worrying about nothing, anyway. Come on."

Something registered dimly in Sirius's mind as he followed Peter toward the portrait hole. "Wait a minute," he said suddenly. "Since when do you take charge, Pete?"

"Since when do you two not?"

Sirius stopped short and watched Peter continue across the emptying common room.

"He's got a point," Remus said quietly, almost at Sirius's elbow.

Sirius grinned in spite of himself. "That he does. Hey Pete, wait up!" he called.

Unfortunately, his raised voice attracted the attention of the Head Boy, who was sitting by the fire. "Hey, you!" he shouted just as Peter reached to open the portrait hole --

It swung out before he could touch it, and he found himself face to face with Professor McGonagall.

"Professor!" he gasped.

"Mr. Pettigrew," she returned, nostrils flaring. "May I inquire as to just why you were about to leave the Tower?"

"I -- we -- " Peter's mouth opened and closed like a goldfish out of water.

"Please, Professor," Sirius said hurriedly, rushing up behind Peter, "we were worried -- about James. He's out in the forest on detention."

"I am well aware of that," Professor McGonagall said icily. "However, as he is under teacher supervision, there is no reason for you three to put yourselves in danger by leaving Gryffindor Tower, do I make myself clear?"

"Yes," they mumbled.

"Now," she said, raising her voice to the entire common room as the boys sat back down, "my purpose in coming up here was to inquire if anyone had any questions. Any questions at all."

Lily, Kathryn, and Adriana accosted her, clutching Transfiguration texts and rolls of parchment.

"C'mon," Sirius muttered. "Let's go upstairs."

Once in the dormitory, Peter fell onto his bed and muffled a scream in the pillows.

"Relax," Remus said, reading his mind. "McGonagall's right, he'll be fine."

Peter rolled over and grinned up at him. "I know," he said, "I just had to do that. You know, Remy, it's remarkable how you can change moods so quickly."

Remus shrugged and braced himself, expecting a smart remark from Sirius. None came. Remus looked over his shoulder and saw Sirius pacing the room.

"He'll be fine," he repeated, not knowing if Sirius had heard him the first time. "Hatabie is a teacher, Sirius."

"He's evil," Sirius muttered.

"Just because he's mean doesn't mean he's evil," Peter pointed out reasonably.

Remus agreed. "You're not exactly a saint yourself, you know. Are you evil?"

Sirius abruptly shifted topic. "What about that feeling thing you had the other night? You said something horrible was going to happen!"

Remus chose not to comment that Sirius had suddenly become a believer. "This is plenty horrible without anyone getting hurt. Take it from the Seer." He tried to lighten the mood.

Sirius, however, seemed determined to be worried. "He's evil," he muttered again, dropped suddenly onto the window seat, and stared in the direction of the forest.

Remus sighed, sprawled across his own bed, and pulled out his Transfiguration book.

"Do you get that?" Peter asked, staring at it. "'Cause I sure don't."

"Yeah, look at this." Remus turned the book around and was patiently re-explaining the assignment whan Sirius sat bolt upright.

"Lookatha!"

"Look at what?" Peter asked, disgruntled.

"There's someone coming out of the forest -- Remus, what's that charm -- ?"

"Amplifico," Remus said, vaulting off the bed and running to the window.

"Amplifico," Sirius repeated, tapping the pane with his wand. He peered out the window while Remus and Peter waited breathlessly.

"It's Hatabie," Sirius said finally, sitting back on his heels. "He's . . . alone." He looked away.

There was silence for a long moment.

"Let's go tell McGonagall," Remus said, and was up and out the door before the others could react.

By the time Sirius and Peter had gotten downstairs, Professor McGonagall was at the common room's window. "There's no-one there," she said, turning toward them, her lips so thin they were white.

"But that's impossible!" Sirius protested, jaw dropping. "He can't have gotten up to the castle already --"

"Maybe he went back to the forest," Peter suggested.

"Why would he do a thing like that?"

"That charm would be detectable from the ground," Remus murmured.

Professor McGonagall ignored them with practiced ease.

"I fail to see why you made up such a story," she said severely, "but I can assure you that it will not be tolerated. Understood?"

"But --"

"Understood?" the professor repeated menacingly.

Sirius heaved a sigh. "Yeah," he mumbled, speaking for all of them.

"Pardon me?"

"Yes."

"Good." Professor McGonagall swept back over to the study group in the corner.

Without so much as looking at each other, the boys ran back upstairs. Sirius and Remus dropped to their knees and began rummaging through James's trunk.

"Please say he didn't take it with him," Peter said to the ceiling.

"YES!" Remus pulled out the silvery material -- the Invisibility Cloak!

"How are we going to get out?" Peter wondered.

"Through the portrait hole, knucklehead," Sirius snapped.

"I mean, how are we going to get out without being seen?"

"This is an Invisibility Cloak, Peter," Sirius said impatiently.

Peter almost screamed. "I mean, without anyone seeing the portrait open and close!"

" . . . Oh," Sirius said. "Good point."

They both looked to Remus. "We can't wait any longer," he said. "We do it very quietly."

It wasn't very good, but it was the only plan they had.

To Sirius's surprise, Remus's spur-of-the-moment "plan" worked.

"Yes!" Peter whispered when the portrait hole closed behind them.

"We made it!" Sirius added under his breath.

"It's not time to celebrate yet," Remus cautioned. "Let's get outside. And keep an eye out for Hatabie."

Sirius and Peter clammed up and let Remus call the shots.

As it turned out, keeping an eye out for Hatabie was unnecessary. They were still in the shadows of the castle when they ran into him. Literally.

"Who's there?"

'Now or never,' Sirius thought. 'We have to know.' He exchanged a glance with Remus and Peter and, as one, they threw off the cloak.

Without giving their teacher a chance to recover, Sirius demanded, "Where's James?"

Professor Hatabie, however, only looked startled for a split second. "James?" he asked quizzically. "Oh, you mean Mr. Potter. I've no idea. Should I?" He grinned nastily at them.

"He was on detention with you!" Sirius half-shouted, taking a step forward and pulling out his wand.

Hatabie chuckled softly. Remus put a hand on Sirius's arm and gave him a warning look.

"He was? Oh dear," the professor said mockingly. "It's terribly easy to get lost in that forest, isn't it?" He gave them the nastly grin again, stepped around them, and entered the castle.

"He's lying," Peter said quietly.

"We know that, idiot," Sirius snapped. "You don't exactly have to tell us."

"Quit calling me names!"

"Quit deserving them!"

"Uh, guys," Remus said, "let's find James first, then you two can argue. 'Cause the forest is not exactly the safest place in the world, you know . . ."

"Got to have your wits about you," Sirius finished for him. "You sound like Filch."

"Whatever. Let's go!"

It took James nearly half and hour to free his ankle from the rock that held him captive, but eventually he managed it. "Professor?" he called, sqinting toward the top of the gully he had fallen into. Odd, he thought, that he had heard nothing from his teacher for quite a while. 'Get yourself out,' he remembered Hatabie saying. 'It builds character. I'll be up here.'

James grabbed his wand from where it had gotten wedged under the rock and stood up, wincing when he put weight on his right foot. Cautiously, he picked his way up the side of the gorge. Emerging over the top, he balanced on his left leg and again called, "Professor?"

Nothing.

James lit his wand and slowly turned around, peering through the trees. "Professor Hatabie?"

No answer. The only sound was his own ragged breathing.

The realization hit James like a ton of bricks. He was alone, a third year in the middle of the Forbidden Forest with next to no knowledge of the beasts in it.

How could that git have done this? Hatabie was a teacher, for Merlin's sake!

A rustle in the underbrush made James freeze. He had plenty of knowledge of exotic creatures -- his mother was a magizoologist -- but having only just started Care of Magical Creatures, he knew nothing about the monsters of the forest. Or, for that matter, how to defend himself from them --

'Easy,' the more rational portion of his mind said. 'Get out of here first, then panic.'

It sounded like a good plan.

James limped back along what he figured was the path he had come by. He kept his wand out, both for the light and because every once in a while, something would move nearby. But then --

He began to hear other noises. Voices, human voices, quite close by, calling his name.

James froze before he realized that he knew those voices. "Guys?" he called.

"James!" three people yelled simultaneously.

James began to run as best he could. He burst into a clearing just as Sirius, Remus, and Peter appeared from around the bend.

"He's here!" Peter exclaimed unnecessarily.

"What are you guys doing?" James asked.

"Warning you," Remus said quickly. "Listen, there's an echinodermaga loose around here."

"Fifty milliliters oDisclaimer: JKR is the owner, not me.

A/N: Thanks so much to Lone Astronomer for the fabulous beta-read.

"Is it just me, or is it really quiet in here?" Kathryn remarked the next night.

"You're right . . . " Frowning, Lily looked around the crowded common room. "All right, who's not here?"

"Of course!" Kathryn slapped herself in the forehead. "It's James, he's got detention."

"It can't be that, he's always on detention."

"He hasn't been getting as many because Mark threatened to kick him off the team if he kept missing practice. And then he had to go and get one for tonight, didn't he?"

"That's right, isn't there practice tonight?"

"Chaser practice is no good with only two Chasers. And I was really looking forward to learning some new plays . . . detention!"

"Yes, detention," said Adriana placatingly without looking up. "With Hatabie in the forest."

"What?" the other girls said together.

"It's dark!" Kathryn exclaimed, just as Lily asked, "How do you know?"

"I listen," Adriana replied, still squinting at her Transfiguration essay.

"But the forest?" Kathryn persisted. "At night? I mean, I could see it with Hagrid, but Hatabie?"

"And when did you hear this?" Lily added.

"The forest at night with Hatabie. They were talking about it when we left dinner -- I think it was, like, supposed to be somewhere else or something," Adriana said absentmindedly. "Ugh!" she exclaimed suddenly, slamming her Transfiguration book shut and making everyone else within twenty feet jump. "I just don't get this, do you?"

"What?" said Lily, amazed, as usual, that her friend could change the subject so quickly. "Oh, that -- no, I've been trying for ages to figure it out; I'm getting nowhere."

They both looked at Kathryn. "I haven't started yet," she protested.

"So, let's go ask for help." Adriana grabbed her things and bounced up and over to the portrait hole.

"And we should be happy about this because . . . ?" Kathryn asked as she and Lily followed her out.

Adriana shrugged and began skipping down the corridor.

"Unbelievable," Lily muttered. Kathryn looked at her, shrugged, and skipped after Adriana.

Lily shook her head and followed her friends. Soon, she found herself skipping.

Ten minutes later, Adriana halted abruptly. "Okay, where are we?"

"There's the trophy room."

"Yeah, but we were heading for the staff room, right?"

"Right . . ."

"So that's by Charms. How did we get here?"

"By skipping," Kathryn said dryly.

"Oh, you!" Adriana dropped her armload and shoved Kathryn, who promptly elbowed her in the ribs. As Adriana retaliated, Lily laughed and, on impulse, began acting as commentator.

"And Schwartz stomps on Michels' foot, ooh, that's gotta hurt, but Michels isn't backing down, she kicks Schwartz in the shin and Schwartz staggers back, she quickly recovers and moves to -- wait, stop. NOW!"

Not even the seventh years tangled with Lily when she used that tone of voice. Kathryn and Adriana froze in their tracks and heard a different voice filling the corridors.

" -- to the staff room. Once again, all students to their common rooms, all teachers to the staffroom. Immediately."

There was a click, then dead silence. The girls stared at each other then, as one, began walking back the way they had come, Adriana scooping up her book and parchment as they went.

"I didn't know Hogwarts had a P. A." Lily said.

"What's that?" Kathryn asked quizzically. Without waiting for an answer she went on, "I think that must have been the M. S. S. -- Magical Speaker System. My cousin told me about it -- he just graduated, said it was never used all the time he was here. It's supposedly only used in times of great emergency. C'mon, let's hurry."

They ran all the way back to the common room.

"And we thought it was quiet before," Kathryn muttered as they stepped through the portrait hole. The room was practically silent, even though all of Gryffindor were there.

The girls went to stand next to Kathryn's younger brother David, as all the seats were now taken. "I think you must be the last," he informed them in an undertone. "Zillions of people have been coming in . . . you must have been really far away."

Kathryn nodded and put a finger to her lips. The room fell silent again. Gryffindor Tower held its breath and waited until the M. S. S. crackled back to life.

"Attention students." This time Lily recognized the voice as Professor McGonagall's. "As many of you may know, Martin's Magical Circus is currently in the Hogsmeade area." There were murmurs of agreement; several second years had spent the past few days bemoaning the fact that they were not allowed to go see the circus. This had resulted in all of Gryffindor knowing many details of the event, whether they cared or not. The professor went on, "One of the circus's most dangerous exhibits, the echinodermaga, has recently escaped from its cage." There was a collective gasp. "There is no telling where this creature may go. We ask all students to remain in their dormitories or House common rooms until further notice.

"Professor Kettleburn" -- McGonagall's voice turned faintly amused -- "would like to take this opportunity to give a mass lecture on the echinodermaga. All Care of Magical Creatures students will please give him your full attention, as there may well be a test."

Everybody groaned, and several students pulled out rolls of parchment to take notes. There was a crackle as Professor Kettleburn came on and began to lecture enthusiastically. The thing about Kettleburn, Lily reflected, was that he made everything so interesting that you took more notes than you really needed for the test. Someone who paid as strict attention as Lily did was liable to take notes like:

ECHINODERMAGA

-- native 2 N. American forests

-- 5-part radial symmetry, like echinodermata

-- looks like giant sea star

-- each arm ends in sharp point

-- mouth under body

-- can "stand" on 1 or 2 arms

-- MOM class.: XXXXX

--VERY DANGEROUS!

-- pot. deadly venom thru points

CAUSES: immediate unconsciousness, maybe death

-- desperation weapon: Ness Assault

popular MMC

leaps, violent wind, lands w/ mouth over victim & digests immediately (gross)

unblockable, only dodgeable

-- Avoid this creature!

-- IF CORNERED

--is allergic 2 salt H2O

-- shoot it -- 50 mL salt/ L H2O -- inc. Salagua

-- get away!

-- IF SOMEONE IS POISONED

-- get medical help ASAP

"Why is he telling us all this?" Kathryn muttered darkly. "It's not as though we're going to meet up with one . . . kind of morbid if you ask me."

"Didn't you hear what Professor McGonagall said?" Adriana retorted. "'There is no telling where this creature may go.' I bet it could break down the doors -- it could be in the castle right now!"

"That's impossible!" Lily protested.

"Nothing is impossible," Adriana said. "Anyway, I get the feeling we've forgotten something . . . something really important . . . don't you?"

Across the room, Remus Lupin had been steadily growing white. "James," he said sharply, as soon as the lecture was over.

Sirius looked at him a little uncertainly. "James isn't here, Moony," he said. "He's on detention -- in the dungeons, remember? I'm sure -- "

"No, not in the dungeons!" Remus snapped, making both Sirius and Peter jump. "Didn't you hear him talking to Hatabie after dinner? They're in the forest!"

The others' eyes grew wide.

"Are -- are you sure?" Sirius asked after a moment. "I mean, if we didn't hear them, how did you?"

Remus merely glared, and Sirius seemed to shrink a little. They all knew that Remus's lycanthropy gave him enhanced hearing, but they tended to forget.

"Oh. Right."

"We can't do anything until we know for sure," Peter said firmly. "We have to ask someone."

"How?"

"We'll go find a teacher. If the thing's in the castle, we're worrying about nothing, anyway. Come on."

Something registered dimly in Sirius's mind as he followed Peter toward the portrait hole. "Wait a minute," he said suddenly. "Since when do you take charge, Pete?"

"Since when do you two not?"

Sirius stopped short and watched Peter continue across the emptying common room.

"He's got a point," Remus said quietly, almost at Sirius's elbow.

Sirius grinned in spite of himself. "That he does. Hey Pete, wait up!" he called.

Unfortunately, his raised voice attracted the attention of the Head Boy, who was sitting by the fire. "Hey, you!" he shouted just as Peter reached to open the portrait hole --

It swung out before he could touch it, and he found himself face to face with Professor McGonagall.

"Professor!" he gasped.

"Mr. Pettigrew," she returned, nostrils flaring. "May I inquire as to just why you were about to leave the Tower?"

"I -- we -- " Peter's mouth opened and closed like a goldfish out of water.

"Please, Professor," Sirius said hurriedly, rushing up behind Peter, "we were worried -- about James. He's out in the forest on detention."

"I am well aware of that," Professor McGonagall said icily. "However, as he is under teacher supervision, there is no reason for you three to put yourselves in danger by leaving Gryffindor Tower, do I make myself clear?"

"Yes," they mumbled.

"Now," she said, raising her voice to the entire common room as the boys sat back down, "my purpose in coming up here was to inquire if anyone had any questions. Any questions at all."

Lily, Kathryn, and Adriana accosted her, clutching Transfiguration texts and rolls of parchment.

"C'mon," Sirius muttered. "Let's go upstairs."

Once in the dormitory, Peter fell onto his bed and muffled a scream in the pillows.

"Relax," Remus said, reading his mind. "McGonagall's right, he'll be fine."

Peter rolled over and grinned up at him. "I know," he said, "I just had to do that. You know, Remy, it's remarkable how you can change moods so quickly."

Remus shrugged and braced himself, expecting a smart remark from Sirius. None came. Remus looked over his shoulder and saw Sirius pacing the room.

"He'll be fine," he repeated, not knowing if Sirius had heard him the first time. "Hatabie is a teacher, Sirius."

"He's evil," Sirius muttered.

"Just because he's mean doesn't mean he's evil," Peter pointed out reasonably.

Remus agreed. "You're not exactly a saint yourself, you know. Are you evil?"

Sirius abruptly shifted topic. "What about that feeling thing you had the other night? You said something horrible was going to happen!"

Remus chose not to comment that Sirius had suddenly become a believer. "This is plenty horrible without anyone getting hurt. Take it from the Seer." He tried to lighten the mood.

Sirius, however, seemed determined to be worried. "He's evil," he muttered again, dropped suddenly onto the window seat, and stared in the direction of the forest.

Remus sighed, sprawled across his own bed, and pulled out his Transfiguration book.

"Do you get that?" Peter asked, staring at it. "'Cause I sure don't."

"Yeah, look at this." Remus turned the book around and was patiently re-explaining the assignment whan Sirius sat bolt upright.

"Lookatha!"

"Look at what?" Peter asked, disgruntled.

"There's someone coming out of the forest -- Remus, what's that charm -- ?"

"Amplifico," Remus said, vaulting off the bed and running to the window.

"Amplifico," Sirius repeated, tapping the pane with his wand. He peered out the window while Remus and Peter waited breathlessly.

"It's Hatabie," Sirius said finally, sitting back on his heels. "He's . . . alone." He looked away.

There was silence for a long moment.

"Let's go tell McGonagall," Remus said, and was up and out the door before the others could react.

By the time Sirius and Peter had gotten downstairs, Professor McGonagall was at the common room's window. "There's no-one there," she said, turning toward them, her lips so thin they were white.

"But that's impossible!" Sirius protested, jaw dropping. "He can't have gotten up to the castle already --"

"Maybe he went back to the forest," Peter suggested.

"Why would he do a thing like that?"

"That charm would be detectable from the ground," Remus murmured.

Professor McGonagall ignored them with practiced ease.

"I fail to see why you made up such a story," she said severely, "but I can assure you that it will not be tolerated. Understood?"

"But --"

"Understood?" the professor repeated menacingly.

Sirius heaved a sigh. "Yeah," he mumbled, speaking for all of them.

"Pardon me?"

"Yes."

"Good." Professor McGonagall swept back over to the study group in the corner.

Without so much as looking at each other, the boys ran back upstairs. Sirius and Remus dropped to their knees and began rummaging through James's trunk.

"Please say he didn't take it with him," Peter said to the ceiling.

"YES!" Remus pulled out the silvery material -- the Invisibility Cloak!

"How are we going to get out?" Peter wondered.

"Through the portrait hole, knucklehead," Sirius snapped.

"I mean, how are we going to get out without being seen?"

"This is an Invisibility Cloak, Peter," Sirius said impatiently.

Peter almost screamed. "I mean, without anyone seeing the portrait open and close!"

" . . . Oh," Sirius said. "Good point."

They both looked to Remus. "We can't wait any longer," he said. "We do it very quietly."

It wasn't very good, but it was the only plan they had.

To Sirius's surprise, Remus's spur-of-the-moment "plan" worked.

"Yes!" Peter whispered when the portrait hole closed behind them.

"We made it!" Sirius added under his breath.

"It's not time to celebrate yet," Remus cautioned. "Let's get outside. And keep an eye out for Hatabie."

Sirius and Peter clammed up and let Remus call the shots.

As it turned out, keeping an eye out for Hatabie was unnecessary. They were still in the shadows of the castle when they ran into him. Literally.

"Who's there?"

'Now or never,' Sirius thought. 'We have to know.' He exchanged a glance with Remus and Peter and, as one, they threw off the cloak.

Without giving their teacher a chance to recover, Sirius demanded, "Where's James?"

Professor Hatabie, however, only looked startled for a split second. "James?" he asked quizzically. "Oh, you mean Mr. Potter. I've no idea. Should I?" He grinned nastily at them.

"He was on detention with you!" Sirius half-shouted, taking a step forward and pulling out his wand.

Hatabie chuckled softly. Remus put a hand on Sirius's arm and gave him a warning look.

"He was? Oh dear," the professor said mockingly. "It's terribly easy to get lost in that forest, isn't it?" He gave them the nastly grin again, stepped around them, and entered the castle.

"He's lying," Peter said quietly.

"We know that, idiot," Sirius snapped. "You don't exactly have to tell us."

"Quit calling me names!"

"Quit deserving them!"

"Uh, guys," Remus said, "let's find James first, then you two can argue. 'Cause the forest is not exactly the safest place in the world, you know . . ."

"Got to have your wits about you," Sirius finished for him. "You sound like Filch."

"Whatever. Let's go!"

It took James nearly half and hour to free his ankle from the rock that held him captive, but eventually he managed it. "Professor?" he called, sqinting toward the top of the gully he had fallen into. Odd, he thought, that he had heard nothing from his teacher for quite a while. 'Get yourself out,' he remembered Hatabie saying. 'It builds character. I'll be up here.'

James grabbed his wand from where it had gotten wedged under the rock and stood up, wincing when he put weight on his right foot. Cautiously, he picked his way up the side of the gorge. Emerging over the top, he balanced on his left leg and again called, "Professor?"

Nothing.

James lit his wand and slowly turned around, peering through the trees. "Professor Hatabie?"

No answer. The only sound was his own ragged breathing.

The realization hit James like a ton of bricks. He was alone, a third year in the middle of the Forbidden Forest with next to no knowledge of the beasts in it.

How could that git have done this? Hatabie was a teacher, for Merlin's sake!

A rustle in the underbrush made James freeze. He had plenty of knowledge of exotic creatures -- his mother was a magizoologist -- but having only just started Care of Magical Creatures, he knew nothing about the monsters of the forest. Or, for that matter, how to defend himself from them --

'Easy,' the more rational portion of his mind said. 'Get out of here first, then panic.'

It sounded like a good plan.

James limped back along what he figured was the path he had come by. He kept his wand out, both for the light and because every once in a while, something would move nearby. But then --

He began to hear other noises. Voices, human voices, quite close by, calling his name.

James froze before he realized that he knew those voices. "Guys?" he called.

"James!" three people yelled simultaneously.

James began to run as best he could. He burst into a clearing just as Sirius, Remus, and Peter appeared from around the bend.

"He's here!" Peter exclaimed unnecessarily.

"What are you guys doing?" James asked.

"Warning you," Remus said quickly. "Listen, there's an echinodermaga loose around here."

"Fifty milliliters of salt in one liter of water," James recited automatically. He stared. "What?"

"It escaped from the circus."

"But . . . how?"

"Beats me," said Sirius. "You'd think they'd have tighter security, wouldn't you? How'd you know that thing about the water?"

James stared at him. "My mum works with animals like that. You know that."

"Oh. Right. Forgot."

"Whatever," Remus said. "Let's just -- oh, my god."

James whipped around and there it was. The echinodermaga.

"Darn it!"

The common room was almost empty; only the sixth years by the fire jumped. Lily and Kathryn were far too used to their friend's outbursts to be surprised.

"Is it October twenty-ninth?" Adriana gasped.

"Um . . . yeah . . ."

"The contest!" she moaned, dropping her head onto her Arithmancy book. "If I don't send my story out tonight I'll miss the deadline!"

"Wait," Kathryn said cautiously, "what contest?"

"'Young Witch's short story contest!"

"You're entering that?"

"Well, I was . . . ugh!"

"Spaz," one of the boys by the fire whispered. Lily turned her patented death glare on him, but he had already looked away.

"Take a deep breath," Kathryn was saying. "Maybe you'll find a way later. You never know. But now, just finish your homework, okay?"

It was bigger than anything James had ever imagined. It towered over the boys, easily four times as high as Sirius, the tallest. It was ugly too -- a truly sick shade of puce, five long, sinuous arms undulating, ending in menacing points that glittered with poison. And it could stand on them, just as the books said, and walk -- James realized the last as it took a step toward them.

"Salagua!" he shouted, both surprised and glad that he remembered the incantation. 'I love you, Mum,' he thought fervently as he stumbled backwards. His friends' voices were echoing his own, and an earsplitting shriek split the air as four streams of water hit the echinodermaga almost simultaneously.

It didn't move back, but didn't advance either. James wished he had three hands so he could block out its continued screeches.

"Let's run!" Sirius shouted over the racket.

"NO!" James yelled. "These things are really fast! It'd be on us the second we turned our backs!"

"So what do we do?" Peter was clearly panicking.

"First, we calm down," Remus told him.

"We back away slowly!" James hollered.

Peter took several deep breaths and started inching backwards. "Should someone go for help?"

"Don't we need all of us to fight it?" Sirius countered.

"Better safe than sorry," Remus called.

His last words reverberated through the clearing as the echinodermaga got over its initial shock and stopped screaming. It stood unmoving in the sudden silence and James could almost sense it sizing them up.

"Keep moving back," he said cautiously. This was irrelevant, as all of them already were.

The creature started inching away from James, towads Peter's side of the clearing. Peter's face was frozen in terror.

"You need more salt," James said to him.

"Salt!" Peter moaned. "Why couldn't it have been sugar?"

James laughed aloud for a split second. Then Peter shrieked as their adversary took another giant step -- all heads turned to him -- and the echinodermaga took advantage of their inattention. It struck out at the nearest person, who turned out to be --

"Remus!" three voices yelled as Remus crumpled. Sirius, who was nearest, dropped to his knees beside him, leaving James and Peter on their own.

'Don't panic,' James thought frantically. 'Moony's fine, he'll be fine, he's fine he's fine he's fine DON'T PANIC!' "Augdelugio!" he heard himself shouting, and the water shooting from the end of his wand erupted into a torrent with all the force and turbulence of a hurricane, causing the echinodermaga to start shrieking again.

'Okay. Hold back a little, you're not alone, Pete can help . . . ' James glanced across the clearing and immediately reverted to his days of training from his mother. "Hold you wand tighter," he coached Peter in a shout. "No, make a fist . . . there you go . . . now twist your wand hand over and back . . . yeah, do it again . . . " The echinodermaga stopped moving towards Peter and stood stockstill. James grinned victoriously and started wondering whether to teach Peter how to crank up the flow.

His stomach hit bottom with a sickening jolt when he heard the yell from behind him. "Peter!" Sirius bellowed. "Go -- run -- get Madam Pomfrey. If we're not out then bring her back along the path."

"I thought we needed all of us," Peter called, not taking his eyes off his wand.

"Peter! This is an EMERGENCY!"

Peter lowered his wand and ran. James gave up trying to conserve energy and let the echinodermaga have the full force of his water power. "Are you sure that was a good idea?" he shouted.

"No." Sirius's voice was barely audible over the raging of the enemy. "Look, we're ready to go, you can start moving again."

"Don't go too fast."

"How stupid do you think I am? Move it. And watch out for your ankle, there's a hole right behind you."

Sure enough, James's ankle protested when he stepped into the small depression in the ground. 'How did Sirius know I hurt it?' he wondered as he kept moving back, heedless of the pain. 'But that's easy. Sirius worries about all of us too much, that's how.'

"What's up with your water?" came Sirius's voice behind him. "And move to the left or you'll hit a tree."

James quit thinking and focused all his attention on his wand and on his friend's instructions, leaving none for his ankle or for worrying about Remus.

True to his nature, Peter hadn't run far before he began to get tired. He wondered why Sirius had sent him, the slowest, to do this. But he knew, really. Sirius and James were much better at fighting the echino-thing.

Peter gritted his teeth and kept going. 'Run for your life!' his mind was screaming shrilly.

'No,' Peter said to himself. 'Run for Remus's life.'

He ran faster.

When Sirius reckoned they had gone about halfway, he tapped James on the shoulder and the switched tasks. Their progress was even slower now because of James's ankle, but he could see the logic. Fighting the echinodermaga took energy -- a lot of energy -- and they couldn't afford to make any more mistakes.

James knew Sirius had made the right decision -- he only wished he were as cool-headed. He was panicking inside, just managing to act calm, to do what had to be done -- coaching Sirius and carrying Remus across his shoulders.

When Peter burst through the great oak doors to the castle, he was already shouting.

"Madam Pomfrey!" he yelled fruitlessly, bent double, trying to catch his breath. "Professor McGonagall! Professor Dumbledore! Somebody!"

His only response was his own echo. Peter straightened, took one final gulp of air, and started to run again, straight for the hospital wing.

"I think we're almost out," James announced.

"How can you tell?" Sirius asked. "I can barely see you."

"We must be almost out by now." The echinodermaga had just fallen behind at last and Sirius was busy taking a few deep breaths. James glanced behind him. "Of course you can't see anything. Light your wand." James's own wand was still lit from when he had first crawled out of that damned hole.

Sirius blinked. "Oh! Right. Lumos." The sudden flash of light almost blinded him.

'Then again, maybe he's not so cool-headed,' James reflected wryly.

Sirius was about to ask James if he wanted him to carry Remus when he heard a rustle in the bushes behind him. He spun around, wand ready.

"What was that?" James said sharply, freezing mid-step.

"I . . . dunno," Sirius said slowly, squinting. "I don't see anything."

"Is your wand lit?"

"Yeah . . . keep going." Sirius walked backwards a few meters behind the others, scanning the forest for any signs of life.

Then, suddenly, it was there. Without so much as a whisper the echinodermaga appeared in the air over the trees -- the Ness Assualt Professor Kettleburn had mentioned. 'How'd it do that?' Sirius wondered briefly, irrelevantly. This thought was soon banished from his mind by a new, more pressing realization -- the creature was headed straight for James and Remus!

The corridors were still deserted. Peter had never wished so much that he would see a teacher, any teacher. Unfortunately, his wish was soon granted.

"Professor Hatabie!" he gasped, skidding to a halt.

"My, my, my," his teacher said quietly, grinning bloodlessly. "What are you doing out? And all alone . . . where are your friends? I do hope no-one was . . . hurt."

Peter felt a hot surge of anger and with it, a courage he didn't know he had. It took all his willpower to simply say, "Excuse me, please," and try to walk past Professor Hatabie. The teacher, however, flung out an arm to stop him.

"And where do you think you're going?" he asked, voice deadly quiet.

"Anywhere that's away from you," Peter snapped, slightly surprised at his own rudeness. He ducked under Hatabie's arm and once again ran for the hospital wing.

Sirius stood frozen, unable to move. His heart was suddenly pounding like a tom-tom as the wind picked up , whirling dead leaves around him in a faintly sinister dance. It seemed like ages, but it was surely only a split second before he sprang into action. He lept into the path of the echinodermaga, not yet knowing what he was going to do.

The wind seemed to gain force, nearly bowling him over and making so much noise that he couldn't hear anything but Professor Kettleburn's words ringing in his ears: 'The Ness Assault has never been successfully blocked.' Well, that would just have to change -- Sirius would make sure of it.

He never remembered what he shouted -- the wind tore his voice away the instant it left his mouth. A brilliant flash of white light burst from the end of his wand, nearly blinding him. It spread and spun, a dazzling ring of radiance. Sirius watched it through slitted eyes, fighting to keep it there. It was draining his energy, whatever it was . . . yet Sirius had an inexplicable conviction that this was good, this spinning circle of light, that it would help . . . and if it would help, he was bound and determined to keep it there.

All these thoughts and more flitted through Sirius's mind in the space of a split second, but one overpowered them all. 'Please let it work,' he prayed silently, the wind roaring in his ears . . . 'please . . . '

The echinodermaga and the magic wheel collided. There was another bright burst of flame, lighting up the forest trees, accompanied by a great 'boom.' The monster's course was altered; gravity kicked in and it fell like a rock, hitting the ground with a soft thump.

Everything stopped. The wind slowed abruptly, letting the leaves settle in a misshapen circle. Sirius's hoop vanished but he kept his wand raised, watching the creature warily.

"Merlin," James's voice said in the sudden silence. "What was that?"

"I don't know." Sirius tore his eyes away from the motionless body and turned slowly to face James. "Whatever it was, it just happened." Dimly he remembered what he had been about to say. "D'you want me to take Remus?"

"Are you mad?" James stared at him, concern suddenly glowing from behind his glasses. "Look at you. You're shaking."

Sirius realized numbly that he was indeed shaking. He wished briefly that he could be as calm as James was.

His friend looked at him anxiously for a moment longer and then turned away. "Let's go. We're wasting time."

"Right behind you."

Peter had always liked telling stories, and had learned a lot from his friends. This particular story tumbled out of his mouth, words tripping over each other in their haste to get out, but he was still understood. By the time he reached the end Madam Pomfrey was already standing, wand and plaid bag in hand.

Peter and his friends had had past experience with that bag, a satchel of blackwatch plaid containing various potion vials and even bandages, though Peter had never understood the need for them in the magical world. That bag was plainly for on-the-go emergencies, and this was only made more plain by the fact that she was taking it along now.

As they left, Peter lagged several yards behind the swift, long-legged nurse. Still worn out from his run inside, he briefly considered not following, but he knew he had to. He wasn't about to be left in the dark -- not where his friends were concerned.

James and Sirius were partway up the wide, sloping lawn when they ran into a whirlwind in the form of Madam Pomfrey, accompanied by several other teachers whom she was hurriedly explaining the situation to. All conversation stopped for a split second when the two groups met. Then a flurry of activity and commotion erupted around the boys.

Remus was taken from James and magicked onto a stretcher. Madam Pomfrey bent over him, muttering a combination of spells and characteristic grumblings, and guiding him towards the castle.

Sirius, explaining what had happened to Professors Flitwick and Kettleburn, wished tiredly that they wouldn't ask so many questions. How long had it been? He didn't know. How far inside the forest had the echinodermaga overtaken them? He had no idea. Was the creature actually dead? He hadn't thought to check, so long as it wasn't following them anymore.

Finally, the teachers went back up to the castle, calling for James and Sirius to follow them. The boys did not obey, but rather stayed where they were. Forgetting about his injured ankle, James took a step backward, overbalanced and nearly collapsed. Silently, Sirius wrapped and arm around his shoulders to hold him up. And suddenly, Peter was hurrying towards them across the lawn. He stopped beside them, not speaking.

They stood that way for a moment, bathed in the stream of light spilling from the open doors of the castle.

Professor McGonagall had left and returned, bringing news that the echinodermaga was no longer a threat but refusing to give the few overexcited Gryffindors still in the common room any more information. Once they had given up trying to persuade her, it only took Adriana half a minute to remember her contest.

" -- and it's really, really important to me, Professor, d'you think I could run to the Owlery real quick and send it off . . .?"

"I thought you owned an owl, Miss Schwartz."

"I do, Professor, he's in the Owlery."

Professor McGonagall appeared distracted and was definitely not thinking straight. "Couldn't you borrow an owl?"

"Professor, all the owls are in the Owlery; they live there."

"Of course they do. All right, you may go, but take a friend or two with you, and please do hurry."

"Thank you, Professor!" Adriana squealed breathlessly, racing across the room to grab the precious two scrolls of parchment. "Come on, Lily, Kattie, let's go!"

"Don't call me that," Kathryn grumbled, standing up.

Lily giggled.

Professor McGonagall accompanied them as far as the staircase, where she left in rather a hurry. Intoxicated by the freedom of being out after curfew, the girls decided to take the long way around. Adriana's entry was sent off on the leg of her gentle brown owl (who, for some bizzare reason, was named Nundu) just before ten o'clock. Giggling, the girls turned and started back down.


	3. Chapter 3

_Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, Hogwarts, or anything that is copyrighted. _

_A/N: Thanks to **Kay-chaan** and **QuietWorld** for reviewing._

Chapter Three: Waiting 

"Ow! Adriana, why didn't you move?"

"Because I didn't have enough t -- ow! Lily!"

"Sorry! Why didn't you move?" Lily rolled off her friends and stood, peering at the dark hole in the wall. She frowned and rubbed her elbow. Who would have thought that crashing into a tapestry while racing down the corridor would lead them here?

"Was that a slide or something?" Kathryn asked as she picked herself up.

"I guess." Adriana pulled the elastic out of her hair and shook her head like a dog.

"So what floor are we on, fifth?"

"Probably lower. I think the question is, how are we going to get back to where we know where we are?" Adriana was now pulling her hair back into its half ponytail.

"Great." Kathryn shook her head. "We've been going to this school for what, over two years, and we can still get lost."

"That's Hogwarts!" Lily said cheerfully. "C'mon, let's go this way." She strode off down the corridor.

"Why this way?" Kathryn asked, catching up to her.

"D'you have any better ideas?"

"Well, we could always go the other way . . . "

"Why?"

"Because it isn't your way."

"Adriana, may I hex her?"

"Be my guest."

In an instant, Kathryn had been blindfolded with her own sash and spun around by Lily. "_Now _which way are you going?" the hexer asked triumphantly.

"Down," the hexee said promptly before stumbling and falling dramatically. Adriana burst out laughing.

Lily yanked Kathryn up by the arm and marched her down the corridor, followed by the still-laughing Adriana. "If you don't watch out, I'll bang you into something," she threatened.

"Ooh, would that mean I'd get to go down another slide?" Kathryn grinned, knowing she was infuriating her friend.

"No!"

They rounded a corner and Kathryn felt herself being jerked to a stop. Adriana's laughter died abruptly. "What is it?" Kathryn asked, knowing it had to be something big -- not much could shock Adriana out of a giggle fit.

"It's _them_," Lily said in a hushed whisper.

"Lovely," Kathryn responded automatically and sarcastically.

"No, Kathryn, it's not like that, look . . . " Lily pulled the sash off her friend's head.

It _was_ them . . . but it wasn't. There were only three of them and they were serious, no, they were _beyond_ serious . . . yet it was definitely James Potter, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew.

James was sitting slumped against the wall with his arms wrapped around his legs, his forehead resting on his knees. Peter was standing nervously against the same wall, eyes on Sirius, who was pacing the corridor anxiously. Neither Sirius nor Peter spared the girls more than a passing glance; James didn't look up at all.

_What are they doing here?_ Kathryn wondered. Then she caught sight of the door halfway down the corridor. _Oh, God. The hospital wing._

Lily and Adriana appeared to be thinking along the same lines. "Remus . . ." Adriana breathed.

"What do we do?" Lily wondered aloud softly. "I mean, should we just walk away, or . . .."

"Or find out exactly what happened," Kathryn declared firmly. "And don't look at me that way. Something _major_ has happened here, people are _going _to ask questions, do we want them to have to tell everybody?" Without waiting for an answer she stepped forward. "Sirius?"

He ignored her.

Lily and Adriana looked at each other, silently agreeing that Sirius, when agitated, was not about to give answers. Knowing Peter would not need much persuasion -- and therefore give her little need to talk -- Adriana approached him, leaving Lily standing awkwardly beside the huddled form that was James Potter.

"James?" she ventured. She crouched beside him and hesitantly touched his shoulder. "What happened?"

He didn't answer, didn't move. Lily could hear his breathing, slow and even. Was he asleep? Her legs began to ache and she sat down. "Talk to me. What's going on?"

No answer.

Lily sighed and looked over to the others. Peter was talking to Adriana, but Lily couldn't catch his words. Her friend's face, however, told her enough. Lily saw her take a gulp of air, and knew she was struggling not to cry -- Adriana was like that.

Kathryn was still trying to catch Sirius, who was on the verge of wearing a hole in the floor. He was clearly not about to talk, or, for that matter, stop pacing.

Feeling uncomfortable and out of place, Lily focused her gaze on the floor and examined the rug. It was a long strip of multicolored plush -- red, yellow, green, blue, purple around the edges -- worn in places and continually being kicked around by Kathryn and Sirius. She watched their feet go by. Once . . . twice . . . five times . . . ten times . . .

"Ah, boys. And, of course, girls."

Lily looked up, startled. There was Professor Dumbledore, standing above them without the usual sparkle in his eye. She stood up automatically.

"Professor!" Sirius exclaimed, frozen in his tracks. Kathryn pulled up with a disgruntled look on her face; Peter and Adriana both turned. "Are you -- do you have . . . I mean . . .." Sirius stammered, suddenly looking very young.

"I do have news of Mr. Lupin." The headmaster's eyes still didn't twinkle.

Seeming to suddenly hear him, James scrambled to his feet so fast he almost fell over, but caught himself in time.

Sirius didn't take his eyes off Professor Dumbledore. "What is it?" His voice was calm now, but lacked its usual smoothness.

"We'll just -- go now," Adriana broke in awkwardly.

"You guys can stay; it's fine," Sirius said tightly, not looking at them.

"No really, we don't --"

"Please do stay," Dumbledore said courteously.

Confused, the girls glanced at each other but stayed where they were.

"Mr. Lupin has been transferred to St. Mungo's," the headmaster said gravely.

There were several sharp intakes of breath.

"But -- but he'll be all right, won't he?" Sirius said anxiously, finding his voice.

"That may be the case. But" -- Lily's heart sank -- "I will not lie to you. The echinodermaga's venom is a serious matter -- and I do not mean you, Mr. Black."

Nobody thought the joke was funny.

"Boys, you must prepare yourselves -- he --"

"Don't say it," Sirius snapped.

"He may not make it."

"I TOLD YOU NOT TO SAY IT!" Sirius exploded. Lily looked at him; he was shaking with fury -- Peter had fallen back a step, looking dumbstruck -- James had a hand on the wall to steady himself --

"HOW COULD YOU SAY THAT? IT'S NOT TRUE! It's -- you --" Sirius looked around wildly. "You're . . . you're upsetting the girls!"

"Possibly," Dumbledore said sadly.

"Oh, for the love of Merlin," Kathryn snapped, "calm down!"

Sirius looked at her, still shaking. "It's not true," he repeated, almost pleadingly.

"Do any of you know what became of Mr. Lupin's wand?" Dumbledore asked. James started, and Lily felt quite sure that he had no idea. Sirius, however, put his hand into the pocket of his robes and, hand trembling, mutely handed over the wand.

"Would you ladies please accompany the boys back to Gryffindor Tower?"

"Sure," Lily said, slightly puzzled. She gave James a shove to start him moving. Professor Dumbledore gave them the slightest of nods before disappearing into the hospital wing.

"Oh, my gosh," Adriana breathed once the boys were up their staircase and well out of earshot. She dropped into an overstuffed armchair and repeated the refrain under her breath. "Oh, my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my --"

"Why can't you just say 'Merlin' like a normal person?" Kathryn asked grumpily.

"Kathryn!" Lily exclaimed.

"All she ever says is 'oh my gosh,' and it's starting to get on my nerves!" Kathryn retorted.

"Point taken. Now shut up."

Silence. Adriana stopped muttering.

"They sure were serious tonight," Lily said finally, just to break the stillness.

"Yeah."

Quiet again.

"It's sort of wonderful and horrible at the same time, isn't it?" Adriana remarked thoughtfully.

"Definitely horrible," Kathryn said dryly, "but I utterly fail to see how it's wonderful. Enlighten me."

"Well, it's not _it_ that's wonderful, exactly," Adriana continued reflectively, unperturbed by her friend's tone. "It's that they -- you know . . . they care so much. It's sweet. That's what's wonderful."

"We always knew they could be sweet," Lily murmured.

"We did?" Kathryn asked blankly.

"Yeah. We didn't spend half of first year hanging out with them not to notice."

"Once," Kathryn said. "We saw their sweet sides _once_. And that was in second year. When James and I became starters and Sirius was only a reserve."

"Whatever!" This was Lily's way of tacitly admitting defeat. "Remus is the only one who's halfway sane -- I mean normally. I hope he'll be alright." She sounded discouraged. "I mean, if _Dumbledore_ is worried . . .."

"Now, what am I _always _telling you?" Adriana demanded, suddenly sitting up straight.

"Have faith," Lily and Kathryn said together, rolling their eyes.

"Oh, don't be so skeptical. Keep the faith. Don't lose hope. Anything is possible."

"We _know_," Kathryn groaned. "And 'hate' is a very strong word."

"You're right," Lily cut in, stopping the argument in the brewing. "Who knows? They could become sane for good one day. Anything is possible."

Sirius sank onto his bed and held his head in his hands. "It's not," he said stubbornly to the floor. "It's not that bad."

Remus's voice floated through James's mind. _No, he's in denial. Right, Siri?_ James let out a strangled sort of snort.

"What?" Peter asked.

James said nothing.

Peter changed the subject abruptly. "God, this sucks."

James nodded, wishing Peter would just be quiet.

Peter looked at him closely. "Would you please say something? You're freaking me out."

"Shut up!" James snapped finally, yanking his hangings shut. He stared up at the canopy and knew he would never get to sleep for worrying.

It was going to be a long night.

"Are they coming or not?" Lily wondered aloud.

"They better," Kathryn said. "And it's none of our business, anyway. Lil, did you finish the essay? I forgot, in all the . . . excitement."

"You _idiot_! Transfig starts in, like, three minutes!"

"I know! Help me, eh?"

"Why do I always have to bail you out of things?" Lily groaned and pulled out her essay. "All right, let me see."

Adriana left them to it, watching the door surreptitiously. The remaining Marauders rushed into the room just in time for class but hesitated, standing awkwardly by the door rather than sitting down. Adriana looked around; there were tons of empty desks. She looked back at the boys. _Oh. Two-person desks. Three of them._ She bit her lip to keep from crying, then, on impulse, leaned in towards Lily and Kathryn. "Pretend to fight," she hissed.

"What?"

Adriana was already walking towards the boys, bag in hand. "Peter!" she called. Can I please please sit with you? They're bickering again and I can't take it anymore!" She heard Lily and Kathryn start arguing behind her and sent up a silent prayer of thanks for her friends.

Peter looked relieved. "Yeah, sure." Adriana dragged him to the nearest desk and James and Sirius sat in front of them just as Professor McGonagall started the lesson.

Adriana turned to Lily and Kathryn and mouthed, "Thank you."

Lily gave her thumbs up and grinned.

Adriana turned back to Peter and hissed, "Why are you guys late?"

Peter made sure McGonagall was looking the other way before he said, "Sirius and me had to see Dumbledore."

"You didn't get punished, did you?"

"No." Peter made a face. "He gave us a lecture and then said he thought we'd been punished enough. Sirius said he'd take punishment over this, thank you very much, but it didn't matter anyway, because it wasn't real, and then Dumbledore just _looked_ at him." Peter sighed deeply.

Adriana frowned. "Sounds like something's wrong with him."

"Yeah, well, let's don't talk about it," Peter said moodily.

Potions classes had been canceled; the third years opted to spend the period before lunch in the Tower along with assorted sixth and seventh years. Lily, Kathryn, and Adriana roped Peter into their conversation and James sat with them until he felt he couldn't stand it anymore. He stood silently and ran up the stairs to the dorm, suddenly wanting nothing more than to get away.

He found Sirius there, sitting on the window seat with his head resting on one of the glass panes, staring into the grounds below. James sat beside him and put a hand on his arm, now wishing he could get away from here as well. But he couldn't leave Sirius so upset, he just _couldn't._

"It can't be that bad," Sirius said suddenly. "It's not it's not it's not . . . is it?" He turned his head to look at James.

James just looked back at him.

Sirius groaned and dropped his head, inadvertently banging it against the window. "Moony . . . oh, god, it was all real. Hatabie --"

_Whatever happened to him?_ James wondered.

"-- and the echinodermaga and that weird hoop thing and St. Mungo's and. . . . and what Dumbledore said . . . ." Sirius trailed off.

"Forget what Dumbledore said," James said suddenly. His voice sounded strange to his own ears.

Sirius jerked his head up in surprise. "Nice to know you _can_ talk."

James shrugged and gave his friend a look that clearly read, _Now what did I say?_

"Forget what Dumbledore said?" Sirius repeated slowly, thinking over the words. He gave James a half smile. "You know, mate, I 'preciate it, but there's no way I could forget. And I don't think you can, either."

James made a face -- Sirius had seen right through him as per usual.

"I mean really," Sirius continued, "how can we forget when it's all our --"

James got up hastily and left the room.

"Lunch!" Peter said frantically. "I -- uh -- look, there's James -- gotta go." He exited the common room very fast, following James, who had just come down the stairs.

"I think we terrorized him a little," Adriana said, trying not to giggle.

"A lot," Kathryn corrected. "But he just reminded me how hungry I am. Who's with me?"

"Me!" said Lily.

"Not me," said Adriana. "I'm not hungry. You two go ahead."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, go on."

Since Adriana was often not hungry (as opposed to Kathryn, who was always hungry), her friends left it at that.

They heard angry voices as they approached the entrance hall. Upon reaching the door, they could see James with his wand out, threatening Margaret and Shannon, who had obviously been bugging him and Peter for details of just _why_ Remus was missing.

"Just drop it, okay?" Peter was saying angrily, starting towards the doors to the Great Hall.

Unfazed, Shannon stepped in his path. "You haven't told us what happened."

"It's none of your business," James growled.

"Oh, stop it!" Lily exclaimed, jumping in between them. "Leave them alone!"

"He's our classmate too," Margaret said quietly. "We've been up to the hospital wing and all, but -- we've got a right to know."

"Okay, you have a point," Lily admitted, "but --"

"But leave the boys be," Kathryn broke in.

"You guys know something, don't you?" Shannon asked suspiciously.

"Not much," Lily said. "Let them by and we'll tell you what we do know."

"Not much," Shannon repeated dubiously.

Lily wondered just what it was with these girls and _information_. "Oh come on, Shan. Don't you want to be nice, you know . . ."

"A _good _Hufflepuff," Kathryn put in dryly.

"Yes. No!" Lily giggled in spite of herself. "A good anything-but-Slytherin, how's that." As she spoke the words, she realized that James and Peter had taken advantage of their distraction and slipped into the Great Hall.

Margaret had noticed this as well. "I think it's too late," she said.

"What?" Shannon spun around. Kathryn burst out laughing. Shannon whirled to face her, eyes snapping. "Well?" she demanded.

Kathryn stopped laughing. "Echinodermaga," she said shortly.

" . . .Oh . . . ouch."

"Will he be okay?" Margaret said anxiously.

Lily shrugged. "He's in St. Mungo's. They don't know if he'll be okay."

"Ouch!"

"Yeah. Look, why don't you two go in to lunch? But if you bother them I'll hex you. Promise."

Looking rather shell-shocked, Shannon and Margaret obeyed.

"Adriana should know about this," Kathryn observed.

"Yeah. Let's go."

Lunch forgotten, the girls raced back up to Gryffindor Tower.

All three soon realized that they still didn't know very much -- Peter, their sole source of information, had missed a lot -- but none of them was willing to ask James or Sirius. Instead, they made a hobby of watching the boys all through Defense and Herbology. They saw how Peter was even more nervous than usual, how he jumped whenever anyone spoke to him. They saw Sirius's face when he thought no one was looking, and how he snapped when Victor Van Dugan asked him to pass the fertilizer. They heard James as the normally exuberant boy became monosyllabic, speaking only when spoken to, and then using as few words as possible. They saw the dark cloud that seemed to descend over the remaining Marauders whenever they were not caught up in activity.

"It may be horrible of me," Adriana whispered, "but . . . I'd rather it was him than one of you."

Lily was surprised that Adriana, of all people, had mentioned this, but she understood.

"Excuse me, dears." A plump witch wearing spring green robes popped in front of the boys on their way back from Care of Magical Creatures. "I'm Samantha Reynolds, from the _Daily Prophet," _she said pleasantly, extending a hand. Nobody took it.

"Are reporters _allowed_ on the grounds?" Peter whispered.

Samantha Reynolds heard him and smiled. It was a nice smile, Sirius decided, and she seemed friendly enough. "I have permission to interview students who were involved with the events of last night," she said.

Sirius stiffened involuntarily.

"Are you three Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew, and James Potter?" Samantha Reynolds continued, peering at her clipboard.

Sirius considered saying no – but then he realized he was already nodding.

"And you were involved with the exploits of the echinodermaga last night?"

They all nodded reluctantly again.

"Excellent. Would you mind if I asked you a few questions?"

Sirius opened his mouth to say yes, they would mind very much, but something occurred to him. "Er . . . Ms. Reynolds –"

"Please call me Sam, dear."

"Okay, uh, Sam, but we told everything to the teachers last night – why don't you just ask them?"

Samantha Reynolds smiled sympathetically. "The facts can be distorted through secondhand sources," she explained. "We try to avoid them when we can. So, do we have ourselves a deal?"

Sirius considered. In the meantime, Peter answered for all of them. "Fine."

"Lovely. Let's go find some shade."

Soon Sirius and Peter had answered all of the reporter's questions as well as they could. But far too quickly, she turned to James.

"And you, dear," she said, peering at her clipboard again, "you were the first out in the forest, correct?"

James nodded silently.

"And your friends came after you?"

_What are you guys _doing?

_Warning you._

James shook the voices off and nodded again.

"Right," she murmured to herself. "So it could be that they were after _you_ . . ."

James felt quite sure that they were not supposed to have heard this.

"What?" Peter said, startled. "Who's they?"

"Think, Peter," Sirius said impatiently. "Who do we know who is, in my own words, evil and twisted?"

"Professor Hatabie."

"Exactly," Sirius said. "So then . . . Merlin!" He rounded on Samantha Reynolds. "D'you mean it was _all _on purpose? Like – like a plot or something?"

A shiver ran up James's spine.

"We're looking into that," she said absently. "But Mr. Potter, dear, the only thing we're missing is an account of what happened in the forest before your friends showed up." She looked up at him expectantly.

James said nothing. _After me? Like they wanted me but they got Remus instead? _His insides went cold. _Who _is _they? Not that Voldy-whatsit –_

"Mr. Potter, dear. I'm waiting."

His mouth wouldn't open. James looked down at his hands.

"If he doesn't want to tell, he doesn't have to!" Sirius snapped defensively.

Samantha Reynolds fixed them all with a very serious gaze. "I didn't tell you this," she said slowly, "but Myles Hatabie is under suspicion regarding the events of last night, along with the fact that he ran away . . ."

"Ran away?" Peter repeated. "That's why he's not here today?"

"Yes. But without more evidence, he cannot be actively searched for or arrested." She gave James a very pointed look.

"If he doesn't want to –" Sirius began again.

James grabbed Samantha Reynolds's clipboard and quill and started to write.

He was just acting normal. Just being a git like normal and not saying what we were supposed to be doing. And then I tripped over nothing (which is not something I normally do) and fell into this big hole and a rock landed on my foot and I couldn't reach my wand so it took forever to get out. Then when I got to the top he was gone.

"So _that's_ what happened to your ankle," Sirius said, reading over his shoulder. "You really should go see Pomfrey about that . . . I still can't believe she didn't notice last night."

"I think she had more important things to worry about," Peter said under his breath.

James shrugged uncomfortably and rubbed his ankle, which he thought was healing quite fine on its own. Samantha Reynolds took her clipboard back and scanned what he had written.

"So, he basically abandoned you?" she asked.

James nodded.

"Right. I think that's everything. Yes. Thank you very much, boys." Samantha Reynolds stood up, shook all their hands, and left.

"C'mon," Sirius said impatiently to James and Peter. "Let's go see Pomfrey _now_. See if there's any news."

There was no news. At least, there wasn't any until the next morning, when James came tearing into the dormitory, shouting, where Peter and Sirius were still asleep. In time, they joined him at the window, where he was intently reading the morning's _Daily Prophet._ It was their article.

Sirius didn't want to look at it, but one sentence caught his eye. _One of the students was injured in the ensuing scuffle and is currently in critical condition at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. _

Sirius looked up and out the window, staring at the sky and its deluge of mail owls. He considered jinxing them, but dismissed the idea because post owls were notoriously hard to tamper with; besides, it was seriously illegal. It was a nice thought, though.

Kathryn took one look at the front page of the newspaper and choked on her porridge.

"You all right? Can I see that?" Lily asked, taking the paper without waiting for an answer. She spread it out flat for Adriana to see:

HOGWARTS TEACHER SUSPECTED OF DARK ACTIVITY 

_By Samantha Reynolds, Daily Prophet reporter_

_Professor Myles Hatabie, Potions Master at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, is missing and believed to have connections to the rising Dark Wizard Voldemort._

_On Wednesday night, young James Potter, 13, was alone in the Forbidden Forest with Hatabie on detention. He was trapped in a hole and his teacher abandoned him there. That same night, an echinodermaga escaped from a nearby traveling circus and was wandering Hogwarts' grounds._

_Luckily for Potter, several friends came to his rescue. Unluckily for all of them, the echinodermaga found them there. One of the students was injured in the ensuing scuffle and is currently in critical condition at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. However, the most outstanding detail concerns the actions of one Sirius Black, also 13, as the monster followed them in their attempts to escape._

_The echinodermaga leapt at them – this tactic of the creature, called the Ness Assault, is reputed to be unblockable and extremely dangerous. Black did not stop to think about this. Instead he jumped into its path. A ring of pure white light burst from his wand, which, upon further investigation, appears to have killed the echinodermaga on contact. _

"_I don't know how it happened," Black stated bluntly. "All I did was move, and it happened all by itself."_

_What exactly "it" was remains to be seen. In the meantime, rumors abound concerning the suspiciously timely escape of the echinodermaga and who, if anyone, was its planned target. This reporter would like to remind the Wizarding community that there may be nothing at all to worry about. But undoubtedly, the date of October 29, 1973, should be remembered. _

"Holy schmikes," Adriana breathed.

Lily stopped staring at the paper to stare at Adriana instead. "Holy-a what-a?"

"Holy schmikes. Something to say instead of 'oh my gosh.'"

"All right, that makes no sense whatsoever . . ."

"Therefore it suits you perfectly," Kathryn put in, and they all laughed. Then they remembered what the article had said.

"Do you think it's true?" Lily asked. "About Hatabie?"

"It would explain a lot of things," Kathryn said. "Except . . . wouldn't Dumbledore _know_?"

"Dumbledore isn't God, you know," Adriana said.

"Thank you for the theology lesson," Kathryn said tartly.

"I can't believe what Sirius did," Lily mused. "That's like – I mean . . . wow."

"Yeah."

There was nothing else to say.

It was hard having a friend in the hospital. It was like having a constant ache in the pit of your stomach that widened whenever you stopped to think about it. Sirius and James and Peter were doing their best not to think about it, paying more attention than ever in class and getting involved in conversations at meals or in the common room. At least, Sirius and Peter were talking, and James was listening. Nobody failed to notice that one of the loudest students had become virtually silent, but no one mentioned it. The _Daily Prophet_ article had not gone unnoticed either.

It was funny how many people were suddenly talking to them. They often found themselves surrounded by loud fourth year boys who were asking them for opinions on Quidditch fouls. Emily Campbell, Gryffindor's fifth year prefect, sat down with them on two separate occasions and started talking enthusiastically about any course-related subject that entered her head. Sirius would think that she was probably the only one in Gryffindor, apart from Remus and maybe Lily, who could get so worked up about classwork. Then he would feel a pang and quickly force his thoughts away from that subject. But sooner or later, they would always circle back.

Sometimes Sirius's circulating thoughts got some outside assistance. This was the case on that Friday, the night of Halloween.

"I love feasts," David Michels could be heard to say over and over again, all but bouncing in his seat.

"This is only the second one you've ever been to," one of his friends pointed out.

"And it hasn't even started yet," another added. "We're like fifteen minutes early."

"But feasts always have the best food," David said spiritedly. "My sister told me."

"Apparently the obsession with food runs in the family," Sirius observed, a little too loudly. The younger boys jumped and looked over at him as though he were an alien.

Peter was now giving Sirius a very odd look. "You should talk. Who was it who ate half the table at the Welcoming Feast?"

"What lies!" Sirius cried indignantly, determined to act cheerful. "James, mate, is this marauder not telling the very worst of falsehoods?"

"No, he's not," James smirked, "and aren't we _all _Marauders?"

_All? Dammit, James, do you have to keep reminding me of things? _Sirius stuck his nose in the air and forced a haughty expression onto his face. "I can see I'm quite alone. C'mon, guys, Kathryn ate the other half. How come nobody thinks girls can eat a lot anyway?"

"You _fancy _Kathryn," Peter put in. "And no wonder, you're loony too. You guys are a perfect match."

"I do not fancy her," Sirius protested, though secretly glad for the diversion.

"Yes you do."

"No I don't."

"Yes you do."

"No I – hey, why's it so quiet?"

The Great Hall was almost empty, and now that David and his friends had suddenly stopped talking it was quiet enough to hear the two girls on their other side. It was Margaret and Shannon, heads bent together, clearly gossiping as usual. Sirius wondered absently what interest a bunch of first year boys would have in their mindless chatter.

Then he realized – the girls were talking about _them_.

"You said you were gonna tell me something," Shannon was saying. "About the boys . . ."

"Okay," Margaret said excitedly. "I overheard Madam Pomfrey talking to Flitwick and she said she heard from St. Mungo's –"

Sirius's chest tightened and he caught James's gaze.

" – and there's no news _except_ . . ."

Why do girls have to be so damn theatrical? 

" . . . the healer-people said that it was a really close thing, and maybe if they had gotten back a little sooner, Remus would be okay _right now."_

Peter winced. The bottom dropped out of Sirius's stomach. James looked as though someone had slapped him in the face and when he put his goblet down, his hands were shaking.

"No way," Shannon said. "But how could they tell . . .?"

"I dunno, but that's what she said."

Margaret may have been Shannon's best friend and a gossip, but she knew how to be quiet and her facts were always true.

At that moment a great swell of students pushed their way through the doors and the girls' voices were drowned out in the roar of chatter. Sirius decided that whoever had stolen his stomach had no intentions of giving it back. Peter was chewing his lower lip and looking at him nervously, as though wondering what to do. Sirius looked to James, who in turn was staring down at the table, white as a ghost, unable to still his hands.

_Thanks a lot, girls,_ Sirius thought grimly. _This is just what we need._ Abruptly he stood up. "C'mon Pete, we're leaving." Peter nodded and disappeared into the crush of people on the other side of the long Gryffindor table. Sirius hauled James up by the collar and steered him towards the doors.

They were going against the flow, and therefore knocked into a lot of people. Moving quickly as they neared the doors, they almost flattened Lily, Kathryn, and Adriana but were finally home free.

"You okay?" Sirius asked James quietly, gripping his shoulders.

James nodded unconvincingly and, shaking off Sirius's hands, pulled a quill from his pocket and started to fiddle with it.

Peter arrived, slightly breathless. "James, are you all right?"

"It's our fault," James burst out suddenly. "My fault. My bloody ankle, that was what held us up. And you guys –" He looked down, avoiding their eyes. "You guys shouldn't've come after me. I would've been fine, honest – I know all about echinodermaga. If it hadn't been for me . . . none of this would've happened."

Sirius and Peter stared; it was the most he'd said in days.

"Okay, number one," Sirius said, regaining his composure, "_you_ didn't know the thing was out there. Number two, _we_ didn't know if you were – okay to fight. Number three, one person could never take on that thing for long anyway; it's huge. Number four . . ." What was number four? "Well, if you're looking at the big picture . . . none of this would've happened if we hadn't pulled the stupid prank. He warned us not to, remember? We didn't pay attention. It's all of our faults."

"And you've _both_ forgotten Hatabie," Peter added helpfully. "If this really was a plot or something, then it's circumstances beyond our control." He looked proud of himself.

"_Thank_ you!" Sirius exclaimed and turned to James, who gave him a kind of upside-down half-smile and changed the subject.

"You look hungry, Pete."

"I am," Peter said feelingly.

Sirius considered going back in to the feast, but the mood had been ruined. "Let's go down to the kitchens," he suggested. House-elves, bless them, didn't ask questions.

"'Kay," Peter said. James nodded, already becoming silent again. Sirius sighed inwardly and turned towards the stairs.

"C'mon, let's race."

"What was _that_?" Adriana asked after two blurs rocketed past, nearly knocking her down.

"A whirlwind," Lily said. "A.k.a. James and Sirius. What d'you think happened?"

"We'll find out later; let's go!" Kathryn urged. "Margaret said she'd save us seats and I'm starving!"

"You're always starving!"

"Why not try being famished once in a while? I changed my 'oh my gosh' for you . . ."

They eventually found their way to the seats saved by the other girls. Shannon stopped talking to greet them. "We were just talking about the boys."

"_The_ boys?" Lily asked, the encounter by the doors still on her mind.

"Yep."

Lily traded glances with Kathryn and Adriana. "We just saw them leaving," she said slowly. "I thought they looked kind of upset. What –"

"They heard us?" Margaret gasped.

"I dunno, what –"

"Omigod that was – of all the things to hear –"

"Dammit," Shannon said, putting her head on the table.

"Language," Adriana said primly. "C'mon, out with it."

"Well, I was . . . I was telling Shan how I overheard –"

"Just _overheard_?"

"So I was eavesdropping, shut up," Margaret said, looking flustered. "I heard Pomfrey saying that the St. Mungo's people said that they were just a little too slow getting back from the forest – the boys, I mean – and if they had been a little faster he – Remus might be back at school like now." She looked miserable.

"Holy schmikes."

"Can't you guys talk about these things in private?" Lily snapped. "Oh, I hope they're okay."

"Stay here," Kathryn said, reading her mind. "They don't want us butting in anymore. Sit down, Lil."

Obediently, Lily sat.

By the end of the feast, all the girls were feeling much more cheerful. Lily, Kathryn, and Adriana left the others at the top of the marble stairs, having decided to go up the long way, just the three of them. They were soon giggling uncontrollably and making enough noise for three times their number. Kathryn shrieked in surprise when she tripped over her own feet rounding a corner, and that was when the blurry figure jumped in front of her, holding a wand ready.

It was James Potter. "Shut up!" he whispered fiercely, then turned on his heel and stalked down the corridor.

"Huh?" Lily said, open-mouthed.

"He talked," Kathryn observed.

"You guys better either leave or be quiet or else he'll hex you." It was Peter.

Kathryn peered around the corner. James and Sirius were right there, practicing something that looked suspiciously unlike homework on their pencil cases, and beside them was – _the gargoyle guarding Dumbledore's office. _"Why?" she heard herself ask, along with both her friends.

"Shh!" Peter waved them farther down the corridor they had come from.

When they were far enough away from the gargoyle to suit him, he stopped and Lily asked, "How can he hex us if he won't say more than one syllable?"

"He'll talk if he has to."

"Oh yeah, he really _must_ hex us," Kathryn responded, "it's a matter of life and d – a matter of utmost importance." _If I could blush, I'd be doing it now, _she thought ruefully. Adriana was grimacing at her, but Lily was more concerned with keeping the rather awkward conversation going.

"So what are you guys doing here, anyway? We keep running into you in the oddest places . . ."

"Waiting for Dumbledore. We figure he's gotta come by here sooner or later."

"Why, is this his office or something?"

"Yes," Kathryn and Peter said together.

"Jinx!" Adriana yelped suddenly.

"Shh!"

"Sorry."

Lily looked embarrassed on Adriana's behalf. "We'd better go. You aren't gonna be here too long, are you? Sorta lonely."

"We'll be here as long as it takes. James and Sirius want to ask Dumbledore something that's none of your business, so don't ask."

Kathryn had never seen timid little Peter on the offensive before. It was a little disturbing. "Yeah, we'd really better go," she said awkwardly, inching backwards down the corridor and dragging Lily and Adriana with her. "Bye, Peter." She turned and walked away very quickly.


	4. Chapter 4

_Disclaimer: I don't own HP. JKR does. I am eternally grateful._

_A/N: I know it's been a long time. Sorry. I also know just about nobody read the first three chapters, so what do I care? Thanks anyway to a friend who reviewed and another who promised to but never did. (You know who you are.)_

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"Let's go by Dumbledore's office," Lily said the next morning at breakfast.

"Why?" Kathryn asked through a mouthful of eggs.

"To see if the boys are still there."

Adriana dropped her fork. "Are you crazy, Lil? They must have left hours ago. A teacher probably caught them. And it's nine o'clock on a Saturday . . . "

"They're waiting for Dumbledore. Lord knows if he's been there or not, the man's impossible to find."

"Well, if he hasn't been there all night, they ought to stake out the Great Hall, not his office!"

"I say we don't," Kathryn interjected. "You're outvoted, Lil. Shut up and eat."

Lily huffed in indignation.

"This is backwards," Adriana observed irrelevantly. "Usually Kattie's the one arguing."

"Don't _call_ me that." Kathryn hoped this would be the end of it; she had the nagging feeling that they were bothering the boys too much. The very idea had started to make her uncomfortable. The boys all acted so _different_ it was unnerving and yet, Sirius in particular was acting very sweet, in a twisted, turned-around sort of way. _Shoot, don't think about that!_

"Well, I'm done," Lily said abruptly. "And I'm going, whether you two come or not."

"_Lily!"_ Adriana groaned. "Can't you just leave it?"

"They don't want us interfering!" Kathryn added angrily.

"I'm going; see you later!" Lily walked away with her nose in the air.

"What do we do?" Adriana asked nervously.

"Finish eating," Kathryn said gloomily. "If Lily's really going to get mad, then I'm not going to be anywhere nearby!"

"I'm not hungry."

"If you want to go endure a Lily Evans hissy fit, be my guest."

"Er, no thanks." Adriana snatched Kathryn's _Daily Prophet_ and spread it out flat on the table to read.

She was still reading – and Kathryn was still eating – ten minutes later when Lily returned, stuck out her tongue at them both, and grabbed a piece of toast.

"I thought you were done," Kathryn remarked, raising an eyebrow.

"Arguing makes me hungry." Lily crunched her toast and sat down.

"Let me guess," Adriana said without looking up. "They actually came back and you made them leave by threatening a hissy fit."

"How did you know?"

"So where did they go?" Kathryn wanted to know. "I don't see them in here."

"Just so long as they're not sitting all by themselves in some desolate corridor at the end of the earth."

"You're exaggerating."

Lily popped the last of her toast into her mouth and stood up. "I'm going to the library."

"Lily, has anyone told you you care – and/or interfere – too much?" Kathryn called after her.

"Yes. You."

_The nerve of that Lily Evans! _Sirius thought furiously. _Barging in on us like it's any of _her_ business . . . _ He slammed the dormitory door and fumed his way down the spiral steps. _Why do girls have to be so damned interfering? _He wrestled with that question as he slammed the portrait as well ("Hey!" squawked the Fat Lady) and started to run. Eventually he gave it up, concluded that girls were a mystery and always would be, and resumed seething about them – until a small insistent voice popped into his head, making him slow down at last. _She means well, _the voice said.

Unconsciously, Sirius's feet had carried him to the front doors of the castle, which he pushed open. _You know she means well, _the voice repeated.

_Why, though? Why do those girls feel a sudden urge to try and be "nice" to us? Okay, so Kathryn and Adriana didn't drive us away from Dumbledore's office, but they didn't exactly stop stupid Evans, did they? Damn it . . . _Sirius cursed himself for being afraid of Lily Evans, too frightened of her red-haired wrath to go back. If the girl could be so worked up over something so trivial that didn't even concern her, what else would she do? And the Great Hall? _Ha. Just what we need, five hundred pairs of eyes on us, acting almost normal . . . Dumbledore's eyes are bad enough . . . we'll wreck our reputations . . . like we're not enough in the spotlight already. Damn it, damn it, damn it!_

Anger. It was practically a stage. _Am I going through phases or something? God, I sound like one of those Muggle weirdoes. A psychiatrist. Just like Remus . . . ._

_Shut up._

_Great, now I'm talking to myself._

_Or have I been doing that all along?_

_Never mind!_

Sirius shook his head hard, attracting stares from other students on the grass, and reverted to his earlier topic. _We'll never find Dumbledore now. This place is huge; you'd need a map with people labeled or something. Damn it, why does Evans have to be so bloody SCARY?_

"Hello, Sirius."

"Professor Dumbledore!" Sirius gasped. "What – how –"

"I was merely standing on the other side of that tree, enjoying the view," Dumbledore said pleasantly, indicating the sweeping surface of the lake with the letter in his hand.

"Oh." Sirius's heart was pounding so loud he was sure the headmaster could hear it. "Um, Professor, sir, there was something we wanted to ask you . . ."

"Ask away."

"Er, well, we – James and Peter and I – we wanted to see if there was any way we could go visit Remus over the weekend." Sirius said this in a rush, then held his breath and stared at the headmaster's feet.

"Sirius, look at me."

Reluctantly, Sirius looked up into those piercing blue eyes. He had the uncomfortable feeling that Dumbledore could see right through him, could see everything bottled up inside . . . Remus had once said that Sirius had too little storage space for his emotions, so they leaked out, usually causing him to yell at people . . . what was it with Remus and the feeling thing, anyway? Dumbledore's gaze was intense and Sirius felt that he had to say more, so he opened his mouth and let out the first thing that came to mind.

"We don't want him to think we've forgotten him, Professor."

Dumbledore sighed and finally spoke. "Sirius," he said gently, "I admire your concern for your friend. However, I am afraid that this is impossible. At present, only close family is permitted. Do you understand?"

_What about close friends?_ Sirius wanted to scream, but for once in his life he bit his tongue and muttered, "Yes sir."

Dumbledore nodded and swept away towards the castle.

"BLACK!"

Sirius jumped about a foot and turned to see Mark Lucas, the Gryffindor Quidditch captain, striding towards him angrily.

"Where were you yesterday?" he demanded.

_Bloody hell, I forgot all about practice!_ Sirius was a reserve Beater on the team. "Last night was the feast," he said, thinking fast and hoping he looked suitably puzzled.

"I_ know_ last night was the feast," Mark growled. "That's why we had practice at four. And you weren't there. I want an explanation." He tapped a foot impatiently. Sirius was strongly reminded of Professor McGonagall and had to bite his lip to keep from laughing. Mark noticed this and glared at him.

"I forgot. What's the big deal, our next game's not for three weeks and I'm only a reserve anyway."

"Our _best_ reserve!" Mark exclaimed. "_Mister_ Black, you are in an ideal position to be a starter next year and you need to put in your training."

"It's only October," Sirius pointed out.

"It's November."

"Whatever! It was October yesterday. And James and Kathryn weren't there either, and they _are _starters."

"For your information, Michels was at practice, being a nice responsible girl. And I realize Potter wasn't there, but I haven't been able to find him to yell at. Do _you_ know where he is?"

"No," Sirius lied. "Listen, Mark, I just totally forgot. It won't happen again." When Mark still looked rather dangerous, he added peevishly, "I've had a lot on my mind, you know."

Mark's face relaxed slightly. "I know," he admitted. "But you need to keep up your Quidditch, Sirius. Don't forget we have practice again bright and early tomorrow morning. Remind Potter when you see him. Or else."

"Alright." Sirius wondered if he would really get off this easily.

"And," Mark said, starting to look dangerous again, "you will spend the rest of this morning tutoring our Muggle-born first years. Basic flying and Quidditch skills."

"Ah, you can't –" Sirius began, but Mark cut him off.

"I'm not just captain, Black, I'm also a prefect. You'll find that I _can_ do that. You've got four pupils. They're waiting for you at the field."

Sirius groaned.

"I'll meet you there at twelve-thirty. If any of the kids look promising, I want to know."

Sirius was about to protest that _he_ could hardly tell who looked promising, and besides, wasn't James going to be punished, but Mark had turned and walked away as quickly as Dumbledore.

Sirius fumed all the way to the Quidditch field, but by the end of the practice session, he was surprised to find himself feeling considerably more cheerful.

Early Sunday afternoon, Kathryn fell down the dormitory stairs again. Adriana clattered down towards her, laughing her head off.

"What _is _it with you?" she choked, extending a hand.

"I don't know!" Kathryn moaned. She took the proffered hand, but Adriana was too overcome by laughter to help her up. Kathryn grabbed the banister instead and hauled herself to her feet.

"Hey, Kathryn," a voice said as she turned around. Her heart jumped, and she wasn't sure if it was the surprise, or that it was _him_ standing there – Sirius Black.

"Can we talk?" he said. Her mouth wouldn't move. What on earth could he want with her?

"Sure you can," Adriana said slyly, giving her a nudge. "Go on, Kattie."

"Don't_ call_ me that," Kathryn said automatically. "Alright . . ."

"Over here." Sirius beckoned to her as Adriana grinned widely and ran back up the stairs, presumably to tell Lily. Kathryn gritted her teeth and followed Sirius over to a corner of the common room.

"So?" she said impatiently when he seemed reluctant to speak. "What's eating you?" She eyed him critically, almost forgetting her nervousness. "Or should I say, what are _you_ eating. Doesn't look like much. 'Specially for the Bottomless Pit."

"Don't call me that."

"Are you mimicking me?"

"Yes."

Kathryn wrinkled her nose at him. "If you don't have anything constructive to say –"

"What, you don't think teasing you is constructive?"

"_No._"

"Okay, okay." Sirius suddenly looked very uncomfortable. "Listen, Kathryn, I was wondering . . ."

_Oh, Merlin. He's going to ask me out. _For a split second Kathryn wondered what she would wear, then immediately hated herself for it.

" . . . Why have you three been acting so weird lately?"

It took a moment for Kathryn to register that the question contained absolutely no romantic connotations. Though she wasn't sure whether she was disappointed or relieved, she tried to act natural. "What, falling down the stairs? That's not weird for me, blockhead."

"Okay, _now_ you sound normal."

Kathryn stared at him blankly. "Huh?"

"You three have been acting . . . different . . . towards us," Sirius said reluctantly.

"Huh?" Kathryn said again. "You think Lily yelling at you and me tripping is different? Hello! Where have you been for the past two years?"

"That's not what's different!" Sirius exclaimed. "You all bothering to find out what was going on, and talking to us all the time" – he made a face – "and scaring Shannon off, and Adriana sitting with Peter – that's not normal! Hello! Since when have we even been civil to each other?"

Kathryn was shocked; it had never occurred to her that they were acting any different. "Are you mimicking me?" she said weakly.

"Yeah."

There was an awkward silence.

"So," Sirius said finally. "You got an answer?"

"Well . . . it's just something you _do_, you know? I mean, I haven't even been thinking about –"

"_That's_ why you looked so surprised."

"Yeah. Hasn't seemed odd to us . . . until now, anyway . . . You know what? You guys would do the same for us."

"Wishful thinking."

"I dunno. We used to be friends, remember? . . . What ever happened to that?"

"We decided hating each other was more fun?"

Kathryn smirked. "Well, it is!"

"'Hate' is a very strong word," a voice called from nearby.

"Adriana, go away!" Kathryn snapped without looking.

"She still says that, huh?"

"All the _time_."

"I resent that!" Adriana's voice singsonged.

"Either go away or shut up," Kathryn growled.

"Fine!"

Kathryn looked back at Sirius. "Well," he said, "I guess I just wanted to find out. But please . . . could you tell Lily to –"

"Lay off a little?"

"Actually, I was thinking lay off a _lot_."

"Do you_ want_ me to die?" Kathryn sighed. "I'll try, but I'm not making any promises."

"That's alright." Sirius looked very uncomfortable.

"Know what, though?" Kathryn said brightly. "When all this is over, we'll go back to _hating _the four of you." She paused, listening. "Good, Adriana's gone. Anyway, I'll think up and extra-special insult just for you. Promise."

Sirius grinned. "I guess I'll see you around?"

"Sure." Kathryn watched him walk away, feeling immensely proud of herself for making him smile. And suddenly, she understood. He was an okay guy at heart, and there was more to him and his friends than she had ever bothered to find out, even back in first year. But that didn't mean she had to like him or even – once all this was over – get along with him.

_Ha!_ Kathryn said to herself, and she set off to find Lily and Adriana. Maybe – just _maybe _– she would even tell them of her epiphany.

At dinner that evening, a single owl swooped through the windows of the Great Hall, making straight for Professor Dumbledore. All four House tables fell silent, so rare an event evening post was. The headmaster rose from his chair and relieved the owl of its burden. His blue eyes swept over the letter and when they looked up, they were fixed on the Gryffindor table.

A flurry of whispers rushed through the Hall. Severus Snape looked delighted. "Oh my god, that can't be good," a Hufflepuff girl breathed.

"It's that one kid, isn't it?" one of the Ravenclaws hissed. "That third year – what's-his-face – Lupin!"

Meanwhile, three Gryffindor boys sat still as stone.

It transpired that Remus had taken a turn for the worse. Not even the threat of Lily's wrath could now keep James, Sirius and Peter from staking out the corridor in front of Dumbledore's office, figuring – probably correctly – that the headmaster would get news first.

When Lily showed signs of wanting to go after them, Kathryn pulled her down into her seat, saying, "It's _not_ 'some desolate corridor at the end of the earth,' Lil, it's Dumbledore's office. Stop being such a busybody and eat."

"I'm not being a busybody!"

"Well, you're doing a very good impression of it. Eat."

"I'm not hungry."

"Neither am I. Eat anyway."

Adriana pushed her plate away and laid her head on the table. "Gosh, this stinks," she muttered.

"Stop saying that," Kathryn said irritably.

"She didn't say 'oh my gosh,' alright?" Lily put in. "But they'll be back for classes tomorrow."

"'Course they will," Adriana said from the table. "They came last week; they'll come now."

"And it's none of our business anyway," Kathryn said firmly. "Eat."

Adriana turned out to be right; all three boys turned up for classes the next day and worked harder than ever. James and Sirius exploded into a number of heated arguments, all of them over trivial things such as passing the horned slugs.

"James has progressed from not saying anything at all to not saying anything civil," Kathryn observed wryly.

"And he's _still _not saying much," Lily added. "How does he do that? We should make you try it."

"Ha, ha."

"It was only a matter of time," Peter confided to Adriana when he sat next to her in Charms. "It's amazing it didn't happen before. We need a peacemaker in this group."

By the time lunch rolled around, Sirius and James would have nothing to do with each other. Each tried to make Peter take his own side in whatever fight they were having, but Peter disliked the idea, to say the least. As a result, the three boys ate separately and refused to sit together during History.

"Hey, Kathryn!" Sirius called. "Can I sit with you?"

Kathryn had been about to take her seat next to Lily. "Why aren't you sitting with James?"

"'Cause he's being a prat."

"You're _both_ being prats. I'm sitting with Lily." She sat down and busied herself with taking out her books. Sirius was forced to settle for Shannon, who was delighted.

After classes, Sirius and James were in agreement for the first time all day. They left for Dumbledore's office.

"Lily, shut up," Kathryn and Adriana said together.

"I didn't say anything!" Lily protested.

"Just shutting you up in advance," Kathryn told her.

"James, what'd you get for number fourteen?"

"_X_ equals two _c_ over –"

"Stop!" Peter cried. "I don't _take _Arithmancy!"

"I knew that!" James protested. "Ah, Runes. I'll tell you when I get there, yeah?"

Sirius was frowning at his own Arithmancy homework. "How'd you get two _c_? I got –"

James tossed a crumpled piece of parchment at his head and glared. Sirius got the message.

Peter had almost forgotten they were fighting. It now seemed much too quiet, until –

There was a low rumbling noise. Peter cocked his head; it was coming from behind the gargoyle.

"D'you hear that?" he said excitedly, jumping to his feet. "Listen, it's the stairs!" _Someone must be coming down – but we didn't see Dumbledore – but he could've gone up before we got here – what does he do all day anyway?_

Sirius stood up and put his ear to the wall. "Yeah, I hear them."

"The moment of truth," James muttered, and pulled himself up. He stared hard at Sirius, who still had his ear pressed to the wall.

"Sirius," Peter said, "move away from the wall."

"Hmm?"

"Stop listening to the stairs; Dumbledore'll think you're –" At that moment the gargoyle started to move, and Sirius jumped back so as not to be in its path.

"Hello, boys," Dumbledore said, not seeming at all surprised to find them there. All their eyes were instantly drawn to the official-looking letter in his hands. It looked just like the letter he had received from St. Mungo's the night before.

_Of course, all letters look the same, _Peter thought wildly. _That might not be it._

"Is that . . ." Sirius began.

Dumbledore finally noticed what they were all staring at. "No need to get upset," he said. "Mr. Lupin will be just fine. He should be back with us in a few weeks. Now –"

"Merlin," James breathed. "Oh, sweet Merlin . . ." He sank to the floor and grinned widely up at the ceiling.

Sirius put a hand up to cover his eyes.

Peter found that he couldn't stop smiling. _Oh, my God, it's over. It's all over and we can go back to normal . . . !_

Sirius's shoulders were shaking, ever so slightly.

_Oh, my God!_

James bounced up, still grinning like a maniac, grabbed Sirius by his quaking shoulders, and attempted to calm him down: "C'mon, mate, it's okay, didn't you hear? Pull yourself together . . ."

Peter looked past them at Dumbledore, who was watching with what looked suspiciously like an amused smile. "Sir," Peter said, "when will Remus be back?"

"In a few weeks," Dumbledore repeated patiently.

"Cut it out before I hex you," James was saying threateningly.

"He'll really be all right?" Peter asked.

"Yes."

James finally gave up and kept one hand firmly on Sirius's shoulder as he asked, "How can they be sure?"

"One can never be sure," Dumbledore said simply. "Look at yourself, Mr. Potter. You could fall off your broom at Quidditch practice tomorrow and break your neck."

"Not likely," James muttered indignantly.

"You see that it is impossible to be sure," Dumbledore continued. "The Healers, however, have ways of being reasonably certain, all of which are far too complicated for an old man such as myself to understand, so I will not attempt to explain them to you."

Peter had the feeling that the headmaster simply did not _want _to explain. He didn't particularly mind.

"Now, I suggest you go up to your common room and share the good news with the rest of your classmates."

"Yeah," James said, grinning. He shook Sirius. "C'mon, let's go."

"The girls'll want to know," Sirius said suddenly as they walked away.

"What girls?"

"_The_ girls."

"Oh, right, those girls. We'll tell 'em when we see 'em."

"Don't you think . . ." Sirius hesitated. "We kinda owe it to them . . . they should know first?"

James stared. "Wow. You've developed a sense of honor."

Sirius was indignant. "I _am_ a Gryffindor after all."

"Really? I'd never've guessed!" James smirked and then ducked as Sirius lunged for him. He took off down the corridor, laughing wildly, and Sirius chased after him.

Peter grinned. Yes, things were definitely going back to normal.

_If you read, please review. I wouldn't ask if my review count weren't so pitiful. Honest._


	5. Epilogue

_Disclaimer: I still don't own HP. _

_A/N: I would like to dedicate this chapter to the real Emily and Victor, aged respectively seven and eleven at their deaths. Also to Leo, age twelve._

_We will never forget them. May they rest in peace._

Epilogue 

Remus returned to school two weeks later. The Healers kept him at the hospital over the full moon on November 15th and released him the following Monday. He slipped quietly into the back of Charms, where James and Sirius were entertaining the class by arguing heatedly with Professor Flitwick over levitating charms. Flitwick was returning their arguments just as heatedly, clearly enjoying himself. No-one noticed Remus until the end of the lesson.

"Moony!" James crowed, clapping him on the back. "You're back!"

"You feeling okay?" Peter asked.

"Yeah." A familiar smile was spreading over Remus's face.

"Glad you're back, Remus," Adriana said as she passed them. Lily and Kathryn made noises in the affirmative before moving away.

"Whoa." Remus stared after the girls. "Since when have they said anything nice to us?"

"Since October twenty-ninth," Sirius said. "I guess we forgot to mention that when we came to visit."

"You mean to tell me that they've been acting weird for three _weeks?_"

"Well . . ."

Adriana descended on the boys before class the next morning, clutching the latest _Witch Weekly. _"Guess what?"

"Chicken butt," James and Sirius said together.

"You really should have seen that coming," Remus told her.

"Now kindly go away," Peter said. "Whatever it is, we don't care."

"Thanks, I love you too."

James and Sirius stared at her.

"I won the contest!" she squealed.

"What contest?"

"The short story contest."

Peter looked interested. "A short story contest?"

"Yeah. Look, I know it doesn't really matter to you guys – especially now that we're being horrible to each other again – but I thought you should know cause, I wrote about you. And us. You know, first year, some of the weirder things we did."

Now all four boys were staring at her.

"You can read it if you want," she said, shoving the magazine into Peter's hands, suddenly looking very embarrassed. "I got to go. See you later."

When she had gone, Peter opened the magazine and read the story aloud.

"Damn, she's a good writer," James observed at the end.

"I think she's allergic to commas," Peter said critically.

"Stop nitpicking," Remus said. "Merlin, Pete, we all know _you_ can write –"

"Yeah," Sirius said wickedly, "your problem is writing down the correct _facts_."

Peter chucked the magazine at his head.

Months passed. Kathryn fell down the stairs twenty-three more times by Adriana's count. Peter melted two cauldrons and spent a great deal of time in detention. Gryffindor played Hufflepuff for the Quidditch Cup, losing by twenty points. The prefect Emily Campbell had a hysterical fit in the common room one May evening, sobbing that she would just quit school and never take her N.E.W.T.s, because O.W.L.s were hard enough. Kathryn refused Sirius when he finally got up the nerve to ask her out. All the third years passed their exams – some only by a hair.

When school let out for the summer, all the seventh year girls cried because they would never be back. Several other girls cried, just because they felt like it. James promised to invite all the Marauders to stay, but Sirius said gloomily that his parents probably wouldn't let him go.

Eerily enough, Emily Campbell's prediction that she would never take N.E.W.T.s came horribly true. Over the summer, Voldemort gained yet more power and more followers. Following the example of parents and various politicians, most students began to refuse to say his name. The Dark Lord and his Death Eaters staged several carefully coordinated attacks.

Emily, along with third year Victor Van Dugan, never came back to Hogwarts.

Although the "Echinodermaga incident" was on the minds of many, none mentioned it until the next fall.

"It's October twenty-ninth," Sirius hissed to James at the end of History of Magic.

"Yeah . . . so?" James busied himself stuffing rolls of parchment into his bag.

"_October twenty-ninth,_" Sirius insisted.

"I know. And yesterday was the twenty-eighth, and tomorrow's the thirtieth."

"The twenty-ninth. Of October."

James straightened up and peered worriedly at Sirius. "You feeling all right?"

"I feel fine," Sirius said irritably. "I can't _believe _you don't remember what October twenty-ninth is."

James sighed. "Of course I remember," he said quietly, hoisting his bag onto his shoulder. "I just don't see why anyone in their right mind would bring it up. Are you sure you're okay?"

Sirius rolled his eyes, picking up his own bag, and the boys started toward the door. "I've just been thinking –"

"I knew something was wrong."

Sirius swung at him half-heartedly. "I've been thinking about . . . everything, you know – Emily and Victor . . . Hatabie –"

"I hate him."

"I know. So do I. But I was thinking about him . . . and you –"

"Me?" James stopped dead in the middle of the corridor, staring at Sirius. "What does any of this have to do with me?"

"Oh, come on!" Sirius exclaimed. "You _can't _have forgotten all that bloody reporter told us –"

"Load of bull, that's what she told us."

"_James._ Quit pretending with me. You remember, you remember all of it; I know you do." Sirius stared intently into James's face.

" . . . Damn it." James dropped his gaze to the floor. "_Why _do you always have to see right through me?"

Sirius clapped him on the back. "I'm your best friend. It's in my job description."

"Mmm. What else is in the job description, driving me crazy?"

"Naturally. But to get back to the matter at hand . . ."

"What matter at hand? It's all over and we haven't heard so much as a whisper about me since then." People were yelling at them to move, so James started walking again.

Sirius hurried to catch up with him. "But it's not all over. Look at Emily and Victor. Look at what almost happened last year. Anything could happen anytime –"

"You sound like Dumbledore."

"James . . ."

James stopped walking again and grabbed Sirius by the shoulders, forcing him to look at him. "Sirius, mate, you worry too much. I'm not going anywhere. I plan on graduating, living a long healthy life and having eight children. Okay?"

Sirius opened his mouth to reply, but at that moment, Peter and Remus came up behind them. "Why are you two looking so glum?" Peter wanted to know.

"I think you're scaring people," Remus added. "They're thinking, 'oh my god, it's half of the Marauders having a serious dis –"

"It's October twenty-ninth," Sirius interrupted.

"Don't remind me," Peter mumbled.

Remus, on the other hand, looked genuinely puzzled. "Are you feeling all right?"

James burst out laughing. "Only you could forget that," he chortled.

"Stop laughing at me," Remus protested. "What did I forget? That Potions test's not today, is it?"

"It's tomorrow, blockhead," Sirius said. "We don't even have Potions today."

"Right." Remus looked sheepish. "Don't make me panic, alright, I get all mixed up."

"And then you forget the days of the week," Peter supplied. "Real smooth."

"Actually, we all do that, don't we," James said thoughtfully. No longer laughing, he was remembering a certain Quidditch practice that both he and Sirius had missed.

"Forget the days of the week?" Sirius now said incredulously. "I know them, listen: Sunday, Monday, Tuesday –"

"Idiot," Remus said. "Don't you know Thursday comes first?"

"It does?" Sirius paused, confused. ". . . Shut up."

James laughed so hard that tears sprang to his eyes. "I'm going to lord that one over you for years!"

Sirius made a face at him and pulled out his wand threateningly.

"Oh no you don't!" Remus snatched it away. "Don't forget what you did to Alice Seward yesterday, the poor girl was in tears –"

"It'll grow out –"

"Not for months, it won't, she's got ridiculously long hair –"

"And that wasn't just me, it was James and me."

"And you did have to use an irreversible hex, didn't you?"

Both Peter and James were now laughing at the bickering pair as Sirius grabbed his wand back. "All right, all right, I'll apologize to Al. Happy?"

"Al, is it?" Peter smirked.

"Oh, go away."

"Sorry, no can do."

Remus looked between them and checked his watch. "We're late for lunch."

"Aaah!" Peter yelped. "I'm hungry."

"Race you."

"Readysetgo!" Peter took off uncharacteristically fast.

Remus sped after him. "Sirius, you owe me one!" he called over his shoulder, laughing.

James looked over at Sirius, grinning, ready to open his mouth and say, "Al?" But Sirius was staring after Remus and Peter, looking melancholy.

James sighed again, and they walked in silence for a moment.

"Did I tell you my plan for Snivellus this week?" James asked finally.

"The one involving horns and hot sauce?"

"Yeah."

"That was _my _plan."

"I knew that!"

"Sure you did." Sirius smirked. "So . . . James . . . who you planning on having those eight children with? Wouldn't be a girl by the name of _Ev_ –"

"SHUT UP!"

The magical community heard no more of Myles Hatabie. No body was ever found. Only two people knew what happened to this Death Eater who failed his assignment, and they weren't about to talk.

Dead men tell no secrets. Neither do Dark Lords.

_finis_

_If you read, pleeeeeeeeease review. I am begging._


End file.
